TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 20260 SUBJECT: GRB 161214B: NOT optical observations, possible counterpart DATE: 16/12/14 21:15:24 GMT FROM: Daniele Malesani at Dark Cosmology Centre, Niels Bohr Inst D. Malesani (DARK/NBI and DTU Space), D. A. Perley (DARK/NBI), D. Xu (NAOC/CAS), N. R. Tanvir (Univ. Leicester), G. Fedorets (NOT and Univ. Helsinki), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We observed the field of GRB 161214B (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 20257) with the Nordic Optical Telescope equipped with the AlFOSC camera. Seeing conditions were modest (1.2"). In a 300-s image taken in the SDSS r band (mean time 2016 Dec 14.815 UT, that is 2.2 hr after the GRB), we detect a single object within the updated XRT error circle (Evans, GCN 20259), which is visible in archival images (e.g. from the DSS and SDSS). No other objects are visible within or close to the XRT position (though, the glare of this object affects negatively the search for such objects). As this field is covered from the SDSS, we can compute accurate photometry of this object, r = 18.35 +- 0.02 (AB). The brightness of this object is 0.76 +- 0.03 mag brighter then its archival value from the SDSS, and it shows hint of extension in our images. One possibility is that the detected source is actually the blending of two very nearby objects, possibly the optical afterglow of GRB 161214B and an unrelated, foreground star. However, given the modest seeing of our images, we cannot exclude a real physical association between the SDSS object and the GRB. [GCN OPS NOTE(14dec16): Per author's request, the GRB name in the last paragraph was changed from "161014B" to "161214B".]