TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2189 SUBJECT: GRB030501: TAROT candidate afterglow present in archival images DATE: 03/05/01 21:06:23 GMT FROM: Derek Fox at CIT D. Fox (Caltech) reports: "The candidate GRB030501 optical afterglow of Boer & Klotz (GCN 2188) is present in archival images of the Second Palomar Optical Sky Survey (XDSS) and the Two-Micron All-Sky Survey (2MASS). Although the object, which appears to be a star, is undetected in the XDSS B-band image, and faint in the XDSS R-band image, it is well-detected in the XDSS I-band image and extremely bright (among the brightest stars in the near field) in 2MASS J, H, and Ks images. These archival images may be viewed at the web page: http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~derekfox/grb030501/tarot.html We conclude that the object is not the optical afterglow of GRB030501. We also note in passing that the optical extinction in this field, very near the Galactic disk, is extremely high, E(B-V) = 14.8 mag from the dust maps of Schlegel, Finkbeiner, & Davis (1998). Such highly-reddened objects are thus to be expected."