GCN Circular 609
Subject
GRB 000307, Optical Observations
Date
2000-03-11T07:48:51Z (24 years ago)
From
Jonathan Kemp at Biosphere 2 Ctr/Columbia U <jonathan@astro.bio2.edu>
J. Kemp & J. P. Halpern (Columbia U.) report on behalf of the MDM
Observatory GRB follow-up team:
"We observed the entire IPN error box of GRB 000307 (Hurley et al. GCN
#601) in the R band using the MDM 1.3m telescope starting on March 10.12
UT, and again on March 11.12 UT. One hour of exposure was obtained on
each night in seeing of approximately 1".4. No new object is apparent
above the limit of the digitized POSS-II plate, and no variable object is
detected brighter than an approximate limiting magnitude of R = 21.7.
These observations were severely affected by scattered light from the star
Betelgeuse, which is only 0.6 degrees away, making precise photometry
difficult. We also note that Galactic extinction in this direction is
significant, with E(B-V) = 0.445 according to Schlegel et al. (1998),
corresponding to A_R = 1.19.
This message may be cited."