TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 453 SUBJECT: GRB 991208 optical observations DATE: 99/12/12 03:46:38 GMT FROM: Sylvio Klose at TLS Tautenburg GRB 991208, optical observations -------------------------------------- B. Stecklum, S. Klose (Thueringer Landessternwarte Tautenburg), O. Fischer (Universitaets-Sternwarte Jena), F. J. Vrba, A. A. Henden, C. B. Luginbuhl, B. Canzian, S. E. Levine, H. H. Guetter, J. A. Munn (U.S. Naval Observatory, Flagstaff), A. Castro-Tirado (LAEFF-INTA, Madrid, and IAA-CSIC, Granada), J. Greiner (AIP Potsdam), J. Gorosabel (LAEFF-INTA, Madrid, and University of Amsterdam), and A. Riffeser (Universitaets-Sternwarte Muenchen) report: "The error box of GRB 991208 (Hurley et al., GCN 450) was observed with the Tautenburg Schmidt telescope on 1999 Dec. 11.21 UT in the I band. An object was found whose position corresponds to that of the VLA radio source which is a strong candidate for the afterglow from GRB 991208 (Frail et al. 1999, GCN 451). This optical source is not visible in the Digitized Sky Survey. The detection of the radio and optical sources which coincide in their positions within the astrometric errors strongly supports the view that their origin is the afterglow of the GRB. Photometric calibration of the I-band image is in progress. The comparison of the brightness of the newly found object with nearby USNO stars indicates an I magnitude of about 19...19.5 mag. The presence of the optical source is confirmed by independent observations of Castro-Tirado et al. (GCN 452). The image can be found at http://www.tls-tautenburg.de/research/grb991208.html" This message is quotable.