TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  1887
SUBJECT: GRB 030226 simultaneous optical observations
DATE:    03/02/26 20:10:17 GMT
FROM:    Alberto Castro-Tirado at LAEFF-INTA  <ajct@laeff.esa.es>

A. J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC and LAEFF-INTA),
A. de Ugarte Postigo (IAA-CSIC), T. J. Mateo
Sanguino, M. T. Fernández Palomo (CEDEA-INTA),
 M. Jélinek, P. Kubánek, R. Hudec (ASU), S. Vitek,
P. Páta (CVUT) and J. Á. Berná  (Univ. de Alicante)
on behalf of the BOOTES team,
 
report:
 
"We have obtained several unfiltred exposures (180-s each)
under thin thirrus covering the GRB 030226 error box. The
images covered the period  03:45:16 - 03:56:26 UT 26 Feb 2003
(i.e. between 1.5-minutes before the trigger and 9.9-minutes
after the trigger) with the wide-field  camera of BOOTES-1.
 
After a visual inspection of the HETE-2 error box in all
frames, we do not find evidence of optical emission at the
position of the bright optical counterpart (GCNC 1879, 1881,
1882), in particular simultaneously to the burst itself, for
which we have an image covering  the time interval 03:45:16 -
03:48:16 UT. Therefore we derive an upper limit of R = 11.5
for the reverse shock emission (if any) arising from this GRB,
in contrast to the 9-th magnitude prompt flash emission
recorded for GRB 990123 (Akerloff et al. 1999, Nat 398, 400)".
 
 
 
This message can be cited.