GCN Circular 2184

A. Gilmore and P. Kilmartin (U. Canterbury) and
A. Henden (USRA/USNO) report:

We have imaged part of the error circle for
the HETE burst GRB030429 (HETE trigger 2695)
with the Mt. John 0.6m telescope (unfiltered, using
Rc zeropoint) and the USNOFS 1.55m telescope (Rc filter).
We find one fading object that may be the
optical counterpart to GRB030429.  This object does
not appear on the DSS-2 red plate.  Its position, along
with one comparison star from USNO-A2.0, is

OT     12:13:07.50  -20:54:49.7  J2000  (err: +/- 0.3arcsec)
Star A 12:13:01.05  -20:56:06.6  Rc=12.6

where coordinates are based on USNO-A2.0.  A 4x4arcmin
R-band finding chart can be found at
ftp://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/grb/grb030429r.jpg
The candidate is about 7arcsec southwest of a 19th magnitude
star.  Photometry of the candidate with respect to Star A,
starting about 3.5hrs after the burst, yields:

   UTmid    CRmag   CRerr
Apr 29.591  19.34  0.11
Apr 29.600  19.43  0.13
Apr 29.616  19.71  0.16
Apr 29.660  19.87  0.19

It has faded more than another magnitude by May 01.25.
The color of the candidate is blue, but accurate colors
will be posted after calibration reductions are complete.

These observations were made as part of the AAVSO GRB
Network, and supported by a grant from the Curry Foundation.