TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  1897
SUBJECT: GRB 030226 spectroscopy
DATE:    03/02/27 13:08:12 GMT
FROM:    Ryan Chornock at UC Berkeley  <chornock@astro.berkeley.edu>

R. Chornock and A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley) report:

We obtained a pair of spectra (2 x 1000 s) of the optical afterglow (GCN
1879) of GRB 030226 (GCN 1888) using the Low Resolution Imaging
Spectrometer (resolution ~ 6 angstroms, spectral range 3150-10000
angstroms) on Keck I.  We see the three previously noted absorption
systems, at redshifts 1.044, 1.962, and 1.986 (GCNs 1882, 1884, 1886, and
1889). The higher redshift absorbers have many lines of common
interstellar species.  In addition, we note a broad absorption system with
multiple components from 3600 and 3640 angstroms.  We identify these as
the Lyman-alpha absorptions of the two high-redshift systems.  Blueward of
this complex, the continuum has many absorption lines, which we identify
as the onset of the Lyman-alpha forest.  Therefore, we conclude that the
highest redshift absorption system is at the redshift of the GRB.