GCN Circular 2495

E. S. Rykoff, R. Quimby, C. W. Akerlof and B. E. Schaefer report on behalf
of the ROTSE collaboration:

The ROTSE-IIIb telescope at McDonald Observatory, Texas, responded
automatically to HETE Trigger 2976 (GRB031220).  Our first image of the
final SXC localization was taken 6 seconds after the receipt of HETE
Trigger 2976-6 on December 20, 05:16:14 UT, 1.77 hours after the burst.
The system took 10x5 sec, 10x20 sec and 160x60 sec exposures.  After
co-adding sets of ten images, comparison to the USNO-B catalog reveals no
new sources in the SXC error box. Furthermore, visual comparison to the
DSS-2 Red and IR Plates reveal no new sources to an unfiltered limiting
magnitude of 19.2 at 1.9 hours after the burst.