TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  5373
SUBJECT: GRB 060729 redshift
DATE:    06/07/30 17:06:56 GMT
FROM:    Christina Thoene at Niels Bohr Institute,DARK Cosmo Ctr  <cthoene@astro.ku.dk>

Christina C. Thoene (DARK Cosmology Centre), Andrew Levan, Pall Jakobsson
(Univ. of Hertfordshire), Evert Rol (Univ. of Leicester), Javier Gorosabel
(IAA-CSIC Granada) Johan P.U. Fynbo, Brian L. Jensen, Jens Hjorth (DARK)
and Paul Vreeswijk (ESO) report:


Starting at 08:41 UT, we obtained 3x30min spectra of the OT of GRB 060729
(GCN 5365) using FORS2 at the VLT and grism 300V. Spectra were also taken
at the Gemini south observatory and GMOS beginning at 09:37UT (3x400s
using the B600 grating). At the time of the GMOS observations, the
afterglow had a magnitude of i~18 using instrumental zeropoints.

The absorption lines identified as Mg II + I, Ca H&K and Fe II give a
redshift of z=0.54 for the GRB. We don't detect any [O II] 3728 in
emission, indicating that the host is relatively faint.
The faintness of the host and the relatively low redshift makes this a
suitable target for follow-up supernova search.

We thank the staff at VLT and Gemini for performing the observations,
especially Arjan Bik and Marcel Bergmann.