Bibcode
Palazzi, E.; Pian, E.; Masetti, N.; Nicastro, L.; Vreeswijk, P.; Galama, T. J.; Groot, P.; Frontera, F.; della Valle, M.; Lidman, C.; Kouveliotou, C.; Pizzichini, G.; van Paradijs, J.; Pedersen, H.; Mannucci, F.; di Martino, M.; Diercks, A. H.; Deutsch, E. W.; Amati, L.; Benetti, S.; Castro-Tirado, A. J.; Clasen, J.; Costa, E.; dal Fiume, D.; Falomo, R.; Feroci, M.; Fynbo, J.; Heise, J.; in 't Zand, J. J. M.; Piro, L.; Robinson, C.; Tornikoski, M.; Valtaoja, E.; Zapatero-Osorio, M. R.; Lamb, D.; Quashnock, J.; van den Berk, D.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, v.336, p.L95-L99 (1998)
Advertised on:
8
1998
Journal
Citations
59
Refereed citations
49
Description
We imaged the field of GRB980329 in the optical and in the near-infrared
starting 20 hours after the event, at the ESO NTT, at the NOT, at the
APO and at the TIRGO. In the first night we detect an object of R = 23.6
+/- 0.2 within the BeppoSAX NFI error box at the same position as a
transient VLA source proposed as the radio afterglow of this GRB. The
source faded by 1.6 +/- 0.5 magnitudes in 2.1 days, similarly to the
decays of previous GRB optical afterglows. This transient is likely the
optical counterpart of GRB980329. In the near-infrared we detect signal
at 2-sigma significance, whose position is only marginally consistent
with that of the VLA source. The spectrum of the transient bears the
signatures of substantial absorption within the GRB host galaxy. The
afterglow energetics are interpreted as synchrotron radiation from an
expanding blast wave.