{
  "bibcode": "2004GCN..2573....1M",
  "body": "D. Malesani (SISSA, Trieste), D. Fugazza, G. Ghirlanda (INAF, Brera), on \nbehalf of a larger international collaboration involved in the Swift \nmission, report:\n\nWe observed the error box of the INTEGRAL GRB040422 (Mereghetti et al., \nGCN 2572), starting 2 hours after the burst. Observations were performed \nat ESO-Paranal, with an excellent seeing of ~0.5\". Optical photometry \n(in the R and I filters) were acquired with VLT+FORS2, while NIR K-band \nimaging was performed with VLT+ISAAC. Four exposures were needed to \ncover the entire INTEGRAL error box in the infrared.\n\nWe find no obvious sources after comparison of our images with the 2MASS \ncatalog. The limit for the 2MASS is estimated to be K < 14.5 (Skrutskie \n2001, AAS #198, 33, 827). We estimate our limiting magnitude to be K = \n18.5 based on the 2MASS calibration.\n\nFurther observations are planned tonight at ESO, in order to search for \nvariable sources. Our images are available upon request.\n\nWe thank the ESO staff at Paranal, and in particular Nancy Ageorges and \nLeonardo Vanzi, for quickly performing the observations.\n\nThis message may be cited.",
  "circularId": 2573,
  "createdOn": 1082651955000,
  "email": "malesani@sissa.it",
  "subject": "GRB040422: optical and NIR observations at the VLT",
  "submitter": "Daniele Malesani at SISSA-ISAS,Trieste,Italy  <malesani@sissa.it>",
  "eventId": "GRB 040422"
}