TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2715 SUBJECT: GRB040916: Optical observations DATE: 04/09/16 14:28:07 GMT FROM: AAVSO GRB Network at AAVSO P. Kilmartin & A. Gilmore (Mt. John Observatory of University of Canterbury) reports on behalf of the AAVSO International High Energy network: Two sets of frames centered on the coordinates for GRB040916 (Yamamoto et al., GCN 2712; HETE trigger 3558) show a stationary object not visible on DSS2 R and IR images, at: RA = 23 01 44.01 Dec = -05 39 11.3 (2000.0) Unfiltered R magnitudes at mean times 08:29 UT 19.7 S/N = 2.8 09:54 UT 19.9 S/N = 3.3 Observations were made under clear conditions with the 0.6 meter cassegrain telescope with f/6.4 focal reducer on Mt. John. Seeing was approximate 3 arcsec and limiting magnitude roughly 20.5 in R. The USNO A2.0 catalog in Astrometrica was used for photometry and astrometry reduction. CCD field of view was 9x9 arc minutes. More information on the exposure and the FITS image itself is available at: ftp://ftp.aavso.org/grb/ Note, there are many red sources in the field and these observations are unfiltered so there is a strong possibility that this OT candidate is just a faint red source. The AAVSO International High Energy network is greatful for a generous grant from the Curry Foundation and to NASA for the financial support for the High Energy Workshops for Amateur Astronomers and to the SWIFT E/PO program for continued funding.