Columbia University Astronomy and 
Astrophysics


MDM Observatory GRB Team


GRB 000301C (4.3x4.3 arcmin)

1.3m CCD

Comparison Stars A-D from GCN #573

GCN Circular #578: GRB 000301C, Optical Observation
J. P. Halpern, N. Mirabal, & S. Lawrence (Columbia U.) report
on behalf of the MDM Observatory GRB follow-up team:

"We imaged the location of GRB 000301C as determined by the
intersection of the RXTE All-Sky Monitor error box and the
Ulysses/NEAR annulus (Smith, Hurley, & Cline, GCN #568) 
in the R band on March 3.51 UT using the MDM 1.3m telescope.
The optical transient found by Fynbo et al. (GCN #570,576)
is measured at R = 20.24 +/- 0.05, referenced to the comparison
stars of Garnavich et al. (GCN #573).  This is consistent
with measurements by Garnavich et al. and Veillet (GCN #575)
that were obtained contemporaneously.  The implied power-law
decay index is still rather uncertain.  Using our magnitude
and that measured by Fynbo et al. (GCN #576), we find 
alpha = -1.56 +/- 0.30.  This predicts R = 20.90 +/- 0.18
on March 4.51 UT.

We measure the position of the optical transient to be
(J2000) RA 16:20:18.550, Dec +29:26:35.96 relative to 
30 USNO-A2.0 stars having a dispersion of 0".31 in radius.

CCD images are posted at http://www.astro.bio2.edu/grb/

This message may be cited."


1.3m CCD


Jules Halpern
jules@astro.columbia.edu
Nestor Mirabal
abulafia@astro.columbia.edu
Steve Lawrence
lawrence@astro.columbia.edu
Columbia University Astronomy and Astrophysics, and MDM Observatory


MDM Observatory