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THE ASTRONOMER Electronic Circular No 2068      2004 Dec 19 19.56UT
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
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GRB 041218: OPTICAL COUNTERPART
Arto Oksanen, Finland, has reported on GCN 2877 that the optical 
counterpart for GRB 041218 (see TA E-Circular 2067), has been imaged by 
O. Trondal of Oslo, Norway.

He observed the error region of GRB 041218 on 2004 December 18 
(16h07m045sUT to 16h15m51sUT) with his 0.25-m Schmidt-Cassegrain 
telescope and unfiltered CCD (MX916) under clear sky conditions.

Eight unfiltered 60 second images were obtained. The afterglow reported 
by Torii (GCN 2860) and Gorosabel et. al. (GCN 2861) is visible in the 
co-added image at:

RA 01h 39m 07.57s  DEC +71 20' 28.5" (2000) at magnitude V=18.6 +/- 0.2 
using the field calibration by Henden (GCN 2896).

TRANSIENT IN LYNX
Arto Oksanen has also reported on this object announced in TA E-Circular 
2066.

He imaged the field of the transient in Lynx on Dec 13.0 UT. His summed 
20 x 120-sec V-filtered exposure showed nothing on the coordinates 
reported. The limiting mag is about V=20.

SUPERNOVA 2004gm IN MCG -02-33-80
Discovery by LOSS of a possible supernova (IAUC 8447):
SN      2004 UT        R.A.  (2000.0)  Decl.   Mag.     Offset
2004gm   Nov. 30.55   12 59 40.53  -14 58 02.4 15.9   9.8"E, 0.4"S
According to IAUC 8447, a spectrum obtained by Garg and Kirshner on Dec 
1 shows it to be of type Ia several weeks past maximum.

Guy M Hurst