Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams

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IAUC 6721: GRB 970815

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                                                 Circular No. 6721
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
Mailstop 18, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
IAUSUBS@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or FAX 617-495-7231 (subscriptions)
BMARSDEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU or DGREEN@CFA.HARVARD.EDU (science)
URL http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/ps/cbat.html
Phone 617-495-7244/7440/7444 (for emergency use only)


GRB 970815
     T. E. Harrison, B. J. McNamara, J. J. Johnson, and P. A. Mason,
New Mexico State University; D. D. Balam, University of Victoria;
and A. R. Klemola, Lick Observatory, report:  "We have used the
infrared camera (GRIM II) on the Astrophysical Research Consortium
3.5-m telescope to image the central 6' x 6' of the RXTE ASM error
box for GRB 970815 (IAUC 6718), and the 1.82-m Plaskett telescope
of the National Research Council of Canada to obtain deep R-band
(limiting R = 23) images of a 10' x 10' field centered on the ASM
burst position.  The first J-band image mosaic was obtained on Aug.
16.27 UT.  The second mosaic was made on Aug. 17.39.  In the 24 hr
between mosaics, no sources showed significant variability.  R-band
images were obtained on Aug. 16.21, 16.32, 18.25, and 19.22.  No
new sources or highly-variable objects were identified.  Comparison
of the J- and R-band images reveals two objects with interesting
R-J colors.  The first of these is a blue object at R.A. =
16h10m03s.6, Decl. = +81o32'35".3 (equinox 2000.0), and the second
is a red source located at position end figures 00s.5, 42".5.
Neither source exhibited measurable variability.  Additionally, we
have identified a peculiar POSS object at position end figures
21s.0, 31'43".0.  This object is visible on the POSS E-775 plate,
but not on the E-1363 plate or on either of the O plates; it is
also not present in our J or R images.  The peculiar POSS object
does not appear to be a plate flaw."
     K. Z. Stanek, D. D. Sasselov, and M. R. Garcia, Harvard-
Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; and C. R. Robinson,
Universities Space Research Association and Marshall Space Flight
Center, communicate:  "Analysis of images centered on the error box
of the x-ray counterpart to GRB 970815 (IAUC 6718) show no
significantly variable objects to a magnitude limit of R = 21.  The
variability for the 200 point sources in the field with 15.5 < R <
21 is rms < 0.2 mag.  The images were obtained with the 1.2-m
telescope of the F. L. Whipple Observatory on Aug. 16.31, 17.16,
17.22, 19.12, 19.19, 19.31, and 20.12 UT in the Cousins R filter.
The images cover a 11' x 11' area and are available as FITS files
by anonymous ftp at cfa-ftp.harvard.edu, in pub/kstanek/GRB970815,
or through the WWW at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/~kstanek/.  Visual
inspection of the images obtained by D. D. Balam (see item above)
confirms this conclusion.  These images are available as FITS files
by anonymous ftp at astroftp.phys.uvic.ca, in /pub/balam/RXTE6335."

                      (C) Copyright 1997 CBAT
1997 August 22                 (6721)            Daniel W. E. Green

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