TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 4817 SUBJECT: GRB 060218/SN 2006aj: optical observations DATE: 06/02/23 10:37:29 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at SISSA-ISAS,Trieste,Italy D. Malesani (SISSA/ISAS), P. D'Avanzo (INAF/OABr), M. Della Valle (INAF/OAA), L.A. Antonelli, V. D'Elia, F. Fiore, S. Piranomonte, L. Stella (INAF/OAR), S. Campana, G. Chincarini, S. Covino, G. Tagliaferri (INAF/OABr), N. Masetti, E. Palazzi (INAF/IASF Bo), E. Pian (INAF/OATs), M. Pedani (INAF/TNG) report: We observed the optical counterpart of GRB 060218 (Cusumano et al., GCN 4775, 4781; Marshall et al., GCN 4800) with the TNG telescope under good observing conditions. Comparison of the new data with our earlier photometry (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 4810) reveals further brightening of the source between Feb 21.85 and Feb 22.86 UT. This is consistent with the underlying supernova being in the rise phase (Masetti et al., GCN 4803; Soderberg et al., IAUC 8674; Fugazza et al., GCN 4807, CBET 410; Mirabal et al., CBET 409; Fatkhullin et al., GCN 4809; Mazzali & Pian, GCN 4812). This message can be cited.