------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 1868 2003 Mar 29 17.17UT Ed:Guy M Hurst, 16,Westminster Close, Kempshott Rise, Basingstoke, Hants, RG22 4PP,England.Telephone/FAX(01256)471074Int:+441256471074 INTERNET: GUY@TAHQ.DEMON.CO.UK GMH at AST.STAR.RL.AC.UK WORLD WIDE WEB http://www.theastronomer.org ------------------------------------------------------------------- GRB 030329 We have indirectly received a note that a very bright gamma ray burster (designated GRB 030329) has been recorded initially at magnitude 12.4. Makoto Uemura, Kyoto University, Japan reports on GCN 1989: We have started observations of the field of GRB 030329 at 12:53:41 UT, and confirmed the bright afterglow candidate reported in GCN 1985 and 1986. We use 30-cm and 25-cm SC telescopes and unfiltered CCDs at Kyoto, Japan. In this one hour observation, our preliminary analysis revealed a rapid fading of the object. From 12:53:41 UT to 13:51:01, the object faded about 0.53 mag, which establishes that the bright candidate is a genuine optical afterglow of GRB 030329. Subsequently on GCN 1994, Hitoshi Yamaoka at Kyushu University, reports that a precise position for the optical afterglow candidate of GRB 030329 (GCN 1985, 1986, 1987, 1689) was derived from Kyoto images as (with mean error of measurements of nine images): R.A.= 10h44m50s.030 +/- 0s.005, Decl. = +21d31'18".15 +/- 0".07. On the DSS 2 B, R, and I images, there is no distinct source down to the limiting magnitudes, which indicates the parent galaxy is more than 8-9 mag dimmer of the OT at 76 minutes after explosion. Editor: Please make every effort to image this source tonight if the weather permits. Guy M Hurst