TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  1995
SUBJECT: GRB 030329: Optical Afterglow Observations
DATE:    03/03/29 17:35:46 GMT
FROM:    Eli Rykoff at Univ. of Michigan/ROTSE  <erykoff@umich.edu>

Rykoff, E. S. and Smith, D. A. on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration report:

We have observed the full error box of GRB 030329 (HETE trigger 2652), 
using the ROTSE-3A 0.45 meter telescope at Siding Springs Observatory, 
Australia, starting March 29, 13:05:19 UT (1.46 hours after the burst). 
  Due to partly cloudy skies, our first usable image was taken at 
13:08:45 UT.  We initiated a sequence of 90 one-minute exposures, 
interrupted by a brief spell of light rain.

We identify the bright counterpart reported by Price (1985) and Torii 
(GCN 1986), at the following coordinates:

   RA: 10 44 50.0  Dec: 21:31:17.8

Some of our detections (unfiltered, calibrated to USNO A2.0 R-band) are:

   UT (start)   Mag (USNO R-band)
   13:08:48     12.88 +/- 0.01
   13:19:15     12.96 +/- 0.02
   13:35:25     13.11 +/- 0.01
   15:34:38     13.90 +/- 0.02
   15:45:16     14.05 +/- 0.03

We continued to follow the transient until it dropped below our 
elevation cut.

A preliminary ROTSE lightcurve can be found at:
   http://www.rotse.net/transients/grb030329/grb030329_lc0.ps
Please note that our magnitude errors fluctuated as clouds drifted 
through the field of view.