TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 66 SUBJECT: SAX J0840.7+2248 Optical Observations DATE: 98/05/03 00:13:16 GMT FROM: George Djorgovski at Caltech/Palomar SAX J0840.7+2248 Optical Observations S. G. Djorgovski, S. R. Kulkarni, J. Kollmeier (Caltech) and D. A. Frail (NRAO) report on behalf of the Caltech GRB collaboration: We obtained CCD images of the field of x-ray transient SAX J0840.7+2248 (IAUC 6892). While this x-ray transient was not (to our knowledge) associated with a traditional gamma-ray burst, there is a possibility that it represents the same type of a phenomenon, with the gamma-rays undetected because of the sensitivity limits and/or beaming factors. CCD images in the Gunn i-band were obtained at the Palomar Observatory's 60-inch telescope, on UT 1988 May 02.17. We find no objects within the SAX 3-arcmin error circle which are not also present in the Digital POSS-II catalogs, which reach to the approximate limiting magnitudes of B ~ 22 and R ~ 21. This should be considered as a conservative limit on any optical afterglow associated with this x-ray transient. Images and charts for the field are available at: http://astro.caltech.edu/~george/grb/sax0840.html This note may be cited. [GCN Operator's Note: This circular has been processed even though it does not contain the "GRB" string within the Subject-line. This scenario of potential burst-related messages was overlooked in the original formulation of the GCN Circular system. A new policy is being formulated to cover future submissions.]