TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 177 SUBJECT: Optical Observations of GRB981226 DATE: 98/12/29 05:19:21 GMT FROM: Przemyslaw R. Wozniak at Princeton U. Obs. Przemyslaw R. Wozniak reports for OGLE team: An attempt to observe optical transient of GRB981226 was made in BeppoSAX 6' radius region reported by Di Ciolo et al. (IAUCirc 7074). On three nights following the announcement, Dec 27-29, approximately between 1:15 and 2:30 UT I collected 10 and 15-minute frames in I band, with the 1.3 m Warsaw University Observatory Telescope on Las Campanas. This amounted to 70,70,80 minutes of integration each night at 1.4, 1.3 and 1.2" seeing respectively. On the first night a faint object at R.A. = 23h29m27s.3, Decl. = -23d56'54" with approximate magnitude I = 20.3 showed some evidence for decline of the flux. Two following nights did not confirm variability. It is most likely a faint galaxy close to detection limit on single exposures. I also looked at object reported by Castro-Tirado et al. (GCN#173) at R.A. = 23 29 35.0, Dec = -23 55 42 (J2000). On averages of frames from each night I can barely discern the object at estimated I = 21.4, close to detection limit, however I don't see evidence for variability in my data.