Astron. Astrophys. 347, L31-L34 (1999)

4. Conclusion

We present the optical follow up observations performed for GRB 980329 by means of the data acquired at the OGS, OAN and JKT telescopes. Only the image taken on 29.89 March with the JKT telescope reveals an object within from the OT and radio positions. The magnitude of the OT on 29.89 March was R = 23.7 0.5 mag, which is consistent with R = 23.5 0.2 mag on 29.99 March, reported by Palazzi et al. (1998).

Based on extrapolations of the light curve we claim that the R-band magnitude of the GRB 980329 host galaxy should lie in the range 26.8 mag R 29 mag, considerably fainter as claimed by Djorgovski et al. 1998. This prediction should be tested with deep ground-based or HST observations.

GRB 980329 shows similar characteristics to GRB 970111. Assuming a similar decay trend and apparent magnitude, the OT associated to GRB 970111 19 hr after the high-energy event would be R 23.5 mag, just below the detection limit of our data. This fact could explain the non-detection of the GRB 970111 OT.

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1999

Online publication: June 30, 1999
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