TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 3078 SUBJECT: GRB 050306: R-band observations DATE: 05/03/08 19:05:58 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at SISSA-ISAS,Trieste,Italy D. Fugazza, P. D'Avanzo, S. Covino (INAF-OABr), D. Malesani (SISSA), N. Masetti, E. Palazzi (IASF-CNR), L.A. Antonelli (INAF-OARm), and G. Andreuzzi (INAF-TNG), report on behalf of a larger Italian collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 050306 (Markwardt et al., GCN 3071) with the 3.6m TNG telescope, located in the Canary Islands. Observations were carried out in the R and I bands, under moderate observing conditions (high humidity, seeing ~1.5", airmass ~2). R-band observations started on 2004 Mar 8.22 UT (2.07 days after the burst), and yielded 20 minutes of net exposure. Inside the 6-arcsec error circle of the candidate X-ray afterglow (Perri et al., GCN 3075) we find several sources. Four of them are close to the center (to within ~3"), while the remaining ones are right on the border. All are fainter than the DSS limit. The large number of sources is consistent with the crowding of this field lying towards the Galactic plane. At this stage, we are not able to single out any candidate afterglow. Further observations are planned tonight in order to seek for variable objects. This message can be cited.