TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  502
SUBJECT: GRB 991217 (SAX J2303.2+0015) Optical observations 
DATE:    99/12/20 13:18:19 GMT
FROM:    Javier Gorosabel at LAEFF-INTA, Madrid  <jgu@laeff.esa.es>

Vijay  Mohan,  Ram  Sagar,  Anil K.   Pandey,  S.B.    Pandey  (from  UPSO,
Nainital),  Javier  Gorosabel   and Alberto J.   Castro-Tirado (LAEFF-INTA,
Madrid and    IAA-CSIC,   Granada) -on   behalf   of   a   larger  European
collaboration- report:

"We have obtained  several images  of the BeppoSAX  WFC  error box for  SAX
J2303.2+0015   (also referred  to as  GRB   991217) as reported  by Muller,
et. al. (GCN 474)  with the 2k x 2k  CCD camera mounted   at the f/13  Cass
focus of  the UPSO  104-cm Sampurnanand  telescope  on 1999 Dec  17.63, Dec
18.65  and Dec  19.55  in R photometric    passband during photometric  sky
conditions. The corresponding  exposure times are   120, 60 and  60 minutes
respectively. Our field of view was 780 x  780 arc seconds.  After a visual
comparison of our images with digital sky survey,  though we detect several
faint objects yet  no object varying  like an OT of  a  gamma-ray burst was
detected. Our images go as faint as R = 22.0 magnitude. This indicates that
the OT of this GRB if any is fainter than 22nd magnitude in R.

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