| Authors | Kulkarni, S. R.; Metzger, M. R.; Frail, D. A.; Guarnieri, A.; Bartolini, C.; Piccioni, A.; Masetti, N. |
| Abstract | S. R. Kulkarni and M. R. Metzger, California Institute of Technology; and D. A. Frail, National Radio Astronomy Observatory, report the following in regard to the radio source reported on IAUC 6545 (now denoted as VLA J1528.7+1945) and located in the reduced error box (Hurley et al., IAUC 6545) of GRB 970111: "On Jan. 16 UT, imaging and spectroscopic observations at optical wavelengths of this localization region were obtained using the Keck II 10-m telescope. Two sources, S1 and S2, are identified to lie within 1" of VLA J1528.7+1945; their R magnitudes are 20.8 and 21.3, respectively. S1 is a slightly extended galaxy with a strong blue continuum and a redshift of 0.636 (as inferred from the Balmer and Ca II absorption features). S2 is a galaxy located 2".15 east and 1".06 north of S1. The redshift of S2, based on absorption and [O II] 372.8-nm emission features, is 0.458." A. Guarnieri, C. Bartolini, and A. Piccioni, University of Bologna; and N. Masetti, University of Padua, communicate: "Using the Bologna University 1.5-m telescope on Jan. 15.19, 17.19, and 31.15 UT, we observed an object with a mean mag of R = 20.6 +/- 0.1 that is practically coincident with the position of the radio source detected by Frail et al. (IAUC 6545). Some indication of variability on a 2-day time scale (to be confirmed) was present. The object is barely visible in our V frame (V-R about 0.0) and is invisible in the B band (B > 21); this would indicate a reddened blue object. On the Palomar plates (epoch 1950.294), the object is undetectable in B and is about at the same R luminosity level stated above. The coincidence of the radio source with this optical object suggests the latter as the probable optical counterpart of both the x-ray and radio sources." |
