Electronic Telegram No. 409
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
M.S. 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
CBAT@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/iau/cbat.html


SUPERNOVA 2006aj = GRB 060218
     N. Mirabal, University of Michigan; and J. P. Halpern, Columbia
University, report that the optical-afterglow candidate of GRB 060218
(cf. Cusumano et al., GCN 4775; IAUC 8674) was imaged at the MDM 2.4-m
telescope (with RETROCAM) on Feb. 19.134 UT, yielding r' = 17.55 in
comparison with SDSS photometry (Cool et al., GCN 4777).  SN 2006aj
is centered, to less than 0".2 in each coordinate, on a compact galaxy
that has r = 19.93 in the SDSS pre-burst image, at R.A. = 3h21m39s.7,
+16o52'02" (equinox 2000.0).  A 0.8-nm-resolution spectrum obtained
with the Boller & Chivens spectrograph on the same telescope on Feb.
20.097 reveals high-excitation starburst emission lines at z = 0.0331,
as well as a blue continuum with a broad dip around 600 nm, similar
to the type-Ic-supernova spectrum of SN 1998bw = GRB 980425.  (See
also Masetti et al., GCN 4803; Soderberg et al., GCN 4804).


NOTE: These 'Central Bureau Electronic Telegrams' are sometimes
      superseded by text appearing later in the printed IAU Circulars.

                         (C) Copyright 2006 CBAT
2006 February 21                 (CBET 409)               Daniel W. E. Green