TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 625 SUBJECT: GRB000326 Optical Observations DATE: 00/04/06 11:28:14 GMT FROM: Holger Pedersen at Copenhagen U Obs H. Pedersen, B. L. Jensen, J. Hjorth (U. of Copenhagen) and J. Gorosabel (DSRI, Copenhagen) report: "Further to the observations reported in GCN #620, we have used the ESO 2.2m + WFI to acquire R-band exposures, as follows: 2000 March 29.41 UTC, exp. 180 s, seeing 1.2" FWHM, 2000 March 30.40 UTC, exp. 600 s, seeing 1.0" FWHM. The first of these covers a 8' x 16' area centered on the brightest of the three radio sources found by Frail (GCN #619). The second covers the full GRB error box (Hurley et al., GCN #618). Inspection of the new data reveals that the optical object seen at the position of the said radio source is extended and of same brightness, as when first detected, on 27.41 UT. We conclude, in agreement with Frail (GCN #622), that it is not a likely afterglow. Comparison between the March 27.41 (GCN #620) and the March 30.40 exposures has revealed no variable object within the full error box. The limiting magnitude is R ~21.5. We cannot exclude that the GRB has occurred in the gaps between the WFI camera's eight CCD chips; these gaps amount to ~6 sq. arcmin. out of the ~50 sq. arcmin. size of the GRB error box."