[AAVSO-HEN] GRB 080503: Fading in continued Gemini imaging

[grb at aavso.org]

The following is a GCN Circular circulated via the AAVSO network.
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TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  7695
SUBJECT: GRB 080503: Fading in continued Gemini imaging
DATE:    08/05/07 18:31:25 GMT
FROM:    Daniel Perley at U.C. Berkeley  <dperley at astro.berkeley.edu>

D. A. Perley, J. S. Bloom, and W. Li (UC Berkeley), on behalf of a 
larger collaboration, report:

We have continued to monitor the optical transient (Perley et al., GCN 
7678) associated with GRB 080503 (Mao et al., GCN 7665) using Gemini-N 
(+GMOS) with additional exposures in r-band nightly since the event.

The optical counterpart remains detected in all images to date (through 
2008-05-07 UT) and is significantly, but slowly, fading.  This confirms 
the lack of further rebrightening (see also Perley et al., GCN 7680) and 
further distinguishes the behavior of the transient from ordinary long- 
and short-burst afterglows.  Alternatively, a faint host galaxy could be 
contributing to the later exposures somewhat; further follow-up may help 
resolve this ambiguity.