{
  "bibcode": "1998GCN...161....1B",
  "body": "J. S. Bloom and S. R. Kulkarni report on behalf of the  Caltech GRB\neffort:\n\n\"On the nights of 17 and 18, December 1998 we carried out imaging\nobservations of the field of GRB 980326 with LRIS instrument on Keck\nII.  In the R-band we obtained 8 images each with an integration time\nof 300 s. These images were debiased, flat-fielded, registered and\nmedian stacked. In the resulting image we do not detect the host galaxy\nat the position of the optical transient of this GRB (Groot et al., ApJ\n502, L123, 1998). We determined the zero-point calibration using the\nreference stars quoted in Groot et al. (1998). The faintest object that\nwas readily detected and in the general vicinity of the OT was ~27.3\nmag (with aperture radius of 1.5 arcsec).  This object and others at\nsimilar brightness levels are clearly visible to the eye in the stacked\nimage.  We can place a firm lower limit on the magnitude of the host\ngalaxy at this level.\n\nPrevious magnitudes for the the magnitude of the host galaxy were\nderived using data when the OT was bright and could have been affected\nby the assumed decay model and photometric errors.\n\nThe true host of GRB 980326 is thus fainter than R=27.3 mag or that the\nOT/GRB is not coincident with its host (e.g. the GRB was ejected from\nthe host galaxy or is of intergalactic origin).  If the former is true\nthen the host galaxy of GRB 980326 is by far the faintest host and this\nfaintness is unlikely due to dust extinction given the detection of\nthe optical transient in the B band (Groot et al. 1998).\"",
  "circularId": 161,
  "createdOn": 914381336000,
  "email": "srk@astro.caltech.edu",
  "subject": "GRB 980326/Host Galaxy",
  "submitter": "Shri Kulkarni at Caltech  <srk@astro.caltech.edu>",
  "eventId": "GRB 980326"
}