TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 44 SUBJECT: GRB980329 infrared observations DATE: 98/04/03 14:03:12 GMT FROM: Andrea Ghez at UCLA J. Larkin, A. Ghez (UCLA) in collaboration with S. Kulkarni, S. Djorgovski (Caltech), D. Frail, and G. Taylor (NRAO) report: We have detected a near infrared counterpart to the variable radio source detected at the VLA by Taylor et al. (see GCNC#40), the R-band source reported by Djorgovski et al. (see GCNC#41), and the possible I-band transient reported by Klose (GCNC#43). Preliminary analysis of observations obtained on UT 1998 April 02 and April 03 at the Keck-I 10-m telescope reveal a K = 21.0 mag source that does not show strong variations (delta K < 0.5 mag). The infrared, optical and radio positions all agree to within the astrometric uncertainties of about 0.5 arcsecond. We suggest that a possible explanation for the relatively red color of the host galaxy (R-K = 4.7 mag) and the lack of optical transient detections may be dust obscuration. This note can be cited.