TITLE:   GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT
NUMBER:  3164
SUBJECT: GRB 050401: Optical afterglow confirmed
DATE:    05/04/01 16:34:27 GMT
FROM:    Paul Price at IfA,UH  <price@ifa.hawaii.edu>

P.A. Price (IfA, Hawaii) and R. McNaught (RSAA, ANU) report on behalf of
a larger collaboration:

Continued observations of the field of GRB 050401 (GCN ##3161,3162) with
the 40-inch telescope at Siding Spring Observatory reveals that the
optical afterglow candidate (GCN #3163) is variable.  In particular, in
the course of two unfiltered and four R-band images, the source appears
to have brightened and then faded.  This source is therefore likely to
be the optical afterglow of GRB 050401.

Observations are ongoing at Siding Spring Observatory.

A rough finding chart showing the afterglow is available from:
	http://www.ifa.hawaii.edu/~price/grb050401finder.ps

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