TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 5058 SUBJECT: GRB 060501: P60 Observations and Candidate Retraction DATE: 06/05/02 21:09:49 GMT FROM: S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech S. B. Cenko (Caltech) and D. B. Fox (Penn State) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We have re-imaged the field of GRB 060501 (La Parola et al., GCN 5040) with the automated Palomar 60-inch telescope. 5 x 150 s images were taken in the i filter at a mean epoch of approximately 10:54 2 May 2006 UT (~ 26.7 hours after the burst). The afterglow candidate identified by Fox and Cenko (GCN 5044; see also Halpern and Mirabal, GCN 5046) is clearly visible and has not faded significantly since our previous observations, over 24 hours earlier. We therefore consider it unlikely to be the afterglow of GRB 060501. In addition, we find no evidence for variability in any sources in the near vicinity of the XRT error circle (La Parola et al., GCN 5042). We re-iterate the following limits for any afterglow emission in the XRT error circle from our previous notice: Limiting Magnitude Mean Time Since Burst --------------------------------------------------------------------- I > 19.0 43 min I > 21.0 92 min No further observations are planned.