GCN Circular 9513

S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley) reports on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We have imaged the field of GRB090618 (Swift trigger 355083) with the
automated Palomar 60-inch telescope beginning at 08:30 UT on 18 June 2009
(approximately 2 minutes after the burst).  At the edge of the XRT error
circle we detect a bright point source with coordinates:

	RA: 19:35:58.68  Dec: +78:21:24.4 (J2000.0)

Using several SDSS stars in the field as reference, we estimate
an initial magnitude of r' ~ 13.8.  Given the brightness of the source,
we consider it highly likely to be the optical afterglow of GRB090618.

Further observations are ongoing.