TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  4803
SUBJECT: GRB060218: VLT spectroscopy
DATE:    06/02/21 16:59:19 GMT
FROM:    Nicola Masetti at INAF-IASF,Bologna  <masetti@iasfbo.inaf.it>

N. Masetti, E. Palazzi (INAF-IASF, Bologna), E. Pian (INAF, OA 
Trieste) and F. Patat (ESO), on behalf of the GRACE collaboration, report:

"On 2006 February 21.051 UT we acquired a 30-min spectrum of the optical 
transient associated with the possible GRB060218 (Cusumano et al., GCN
4775) with VLT-Antu equipped with FORS2 and low resolution grating 
300V+GG435. We confirm the presence of narrow nebular lines at redshift
z = 0.033 (Mirabal & Halpern, GCN 4792). We also note that the spectral
continuum shows an overall shape which resembles that of supernova 1997ef 
around maximum (Iwamoto et al., 2000, ApJ, 534, 660).

This may suggest that, if this object is a SN associated with GRB060218,
it is either rapidly evolving or it exploded days before the GRB.

We acknowledge the assistance of the ESO-Paranal staff.


This message may be cited."