{
  "bibcode": "2008GCN..8191....1V",
  "body": "Paul M. Vreeswijk, Johan P. U. Fynbo, Daniele Malesani, Jens Hjorth \n(DARK/NBI), Antonio de Ugarte Postigo (ESO), report on behalf of a \nlarger collaboration:\n\nWe observed the field of GRB 080905B (Stroh et al., GCN 8182) with the \nESO VLT equipped with FORS2. Several spectra were obtained with \ndifferent grism choices, beginning on 2008 Sep 6.053  UT (8.34 hr after \nthe GRB), and covering the wavelength ranges 3800-9500 AA at low to \nmoderate resolution.\n\nIn the acquisition images, we clearly detect a point source inside the \nrefined XRT error circle (Osborne et al., GCN 8189), at the coordinates \n(J2000):\n\nRA = 20:06:57.90\nDec = -62:33:46.8\n\nThis position is consistent with that of the UVOT candidate afterglow \nreported by Stroh et al. (GCN 8182), the object being now significantly \nfainter (R ~ 20.2). We note that this position is 3.8\" off the center of \nthe bright 2MASS galaxy 2MASX J20065732-6233465, also visible in the DSS \nand in the UVOT images.\n\nSpectroscopy of the afterglow reveals resonance absorption features from \nseveral ions, including OI, SiII, CIV, FeII, AlII, AlIII, MgII, MgI, at \na redshift z = 2.374. The detection of transitions from fine-structure \nlevels of FeII indicates that this is the redshift of the GRB, under the \nassumption that these levels are populated by GRB afterglow ultraviolet \nphotons. We also find evidence for an intervening absorber at z = 1.438.\n\nWe acknowledge excellent support from the Paranal staff, in particular \nElena Mason and Andres Pino.",
  "circularId": 8191,
  "createdOn": 1220746574000,
  "email": "malesani@astro.ku.dk",
  "subject": "GRB 080905B: VLT redshift",
  "submitter": "Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst  <malesani@astro.ku.dk>",
  "eventId": "GRB 080905B"
}