TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  192
SUBJECT: GRB981220, Optical Observations
DATE:    99/01/11 10:10:55 GMT
FROM:    Holger Pedersen at Copenhagen U Obs  <holger@astro.ku.dk>

H. Pedersen, B. Lindgren, J. Hjorth (University of Copenhagen), 
M. I. Andersen (Nordic Optical Telescope), 
A. O. Jaunsen (University of Oslo), 
J. Sollerman (Stockholm Observatory), and 
J. Smoker, C. Mooney (Queens University, Belfast) report:

"Images of GRB 981220 (GCN 159, 160), including the position 
of the proposed radio counterpart (Galama et al., GCN 168; 
Frail and Kulkarni, GCN 170) were obtained with the 2.5-m 
Nordic Optical Telescope, La Palma, on 1998 Dec 22.927 UT 
(900 sec, R, FWHM = 1.4"), and with the 1.5-m Danish telescope, 
La Silla, on 1998 December 23.110 UT (300 sec, R, FWHM = 1.3").

No optical source was detected at the position of the radio source.
The upper limits for 3-sigma detections are m(R) > 23.8 on 
December 22.927, and m(R) > 23.0 on December 23.110.

This message can be cited in publications."