[AAVSO-HEN] GRB 090618: SDSS host detection

[grb at aavso.org]

The following is a GCN Circular circulated via the AAVSO network.
For an archive and more information on circulars visit:
http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/gamcosray/legr/bacodine/gcn3_archive.html

TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  9526
SUBJECT: GRB 090618: SDSS host detection
DATE:    09/06/18 16:52:52 GMT
FROM:    Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst  <malesani at astro.ku.dk>

Daniele Malesani (DARK/NBI) reports:

I inspected the SDSS images of the field of GRB 090618 (Schady et al., 
GCN 9512). A faint object is visible in the r and i frames at the 
position of the optical afterglow (e.g. Schady et al., GCN 9512; Cenko, 
GCN 9513), likely the host galaxy of the GRB. Nothing convincing is 
visible in the u, g, and z images. Compared to nearby SDSS stars, the 
magnitudes are r = 22.7 +- 0.3 and i = 22.2 +- 0.4. The bright host 
magnitude is consistent with the low redshift reported by Cenko et al. 
(GCN 9518)

A supernova as bright as SN 1998bw (Galama et al. 1998, Nature, 395, 
670) would peak at r(AB) ~ 23.6 at z=0.54.