TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  8688
SUBJECT: GRB 081221: NOT observations
DATE:    08/12/21 20:13:16 GMT
FROM:    Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst  <malesani@astro.ku.dk>

Daniele Malesani, Johan P. U. Fynbo (DARK/NBI), Eric Stempels (Univ. St. 
Andrews), and Tapio Pursimo (NOT), report on behalf of a larger 
collaboration:

We observed the field of GRB 081221 (Hoversten et al., GCN 8687) with 
the NOT equipped with ALFOSC. R-band imaging was carried out (12 min 
exposure) with mean time Dec 21.81 UT (3.14 hr after the GRB). Inside 
the XRT error circle (Hoversten et al., GCN 8687), we detect no source 
down to a limiting magnitude R ~ 23. Further imaging is ongoing.

We note the presence of two faint sources just outside the XRT error 
circle, at approximate coordinates (J2000):

1: RA = 01:03:10.26, Dec = -24:32:47.4, R ~ 22.3
2: RA = 01:03:10.10, Dec = -24:32:58.6, R ~ 23.0

We acknowledge excellent support from the NOT staff.