[AAVSO-HEN] GRB 090201: VLT afterglow candidate

[grb at aavso.org]

The following is a GCN Circular circulated via the AAVSO network.
For an archive and more information on circulars visit:
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TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  8869
SUBJECT: GRB 090201: VLT afterglow candidate
DATE:    09/02/02 01:54:09 GMT
FROM:    Paolo D'Avanzo at INAF-OAB  <paolo.davanzo at brera.inaf.it>

P. D'Avanzo, C. C. Thoene, D. Fugazza (INAF-OAB), V. D'Elia (INAF-OAR), 
S. Covino, S. Campana (INAF-OAB), G. Chincarini (Univ. Bicocca) report, 
on behalf of the MISTICI collaboration:

We observed the field of GRB 090201 (Oates et a., GCN 8865) with the 
ESO-VLT in imaging mode starting about 7.5 hours after the burst. 
Observations were carried out in R and I-band with the FORS2 camera.

At the edge of the XRT error circle (Beardmore et al. GCN 8868) we find 
a very faint source at the following coordinates (J2000):

R.A. = 06:08:12.92
Dec. = -46:35:17.3

+/- 0.3"

Preliminary photometry of this candidate afterglow gives R ~ 25.2 and I 
~ 24.1. Further observations are ongoing.


We acknowledge the VLT staff for their support, in particular E. Valenti 
and J. Smoker.