TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  150
SUBJECT: GRB971214, association with a Galactic star?
DATE:    98/08/16 15:31:05 GMT
FROM:    David W. Hogg at Institute for Advanced Study  <hogg@ias.edu>

David W. Hogg (Institute for Advanced Study) and Edwin L. Turner
(Princeton University Observatory) report:

The very nearby (~15 pc) Galactic star SAO 15663, with V=6.7 mag, lies
2.8 arcmin from the position of the optical transient associated with
GRB971214 (not 1 arcmin as stated in Kulkarni et al, 1998, Nature 393
35; see the SIMBAD database).  There are 1.0x10^{4} stars, all-sky, as
bright as V=6.7 mag (Allen 1973, Astrophysical Quantities); the
probability that the optical transient lies this close to one of them,
by chance, is 1.7x10^{-3}.  This is comparable to the probability
that, by chance, the optical transient lies along the line of sight to
the galaxy (at z=3.42) identified as the GRB971214 host, according to
Kulkarni et al (ibid).

This message may be cited.  We thank Kulkarni and Ramaprakash for
helping to check the GRB-star offset.