TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 621 SUBJECT: GRB 000323, optical observations DATE: 00/03/28 20:39:47 GMT FROM: Arne A. Henden at USNO/USRA A. Henden (USRA/USNO) on behalf of the USNO GRB team, and A. J. Castro-Tirado, INTA-LAEFF (Madrid) and IAA-CSIC (Granada) and J. M. Castro Ceron, ROA (San Fernando) on behalf of the large Spanish-Czech BOOTES team, report: We have observed the entire error box of GRB 000323 (cf. Hurley et al., GCN#616), using the 0.3-m BOOTES-1 telescope and the USNOFS 1.0-m telescope. The BOOTES-1 data is unfiltered, and covers about 90 percent of the entire error box except for the extreme northern and southern corners. The USNO Cousins R-band data is a north/south mosaic that covers about 60 percent of the error box, missing the east and west corners. The UT exposure dates, length, and limiting magnitudes are: BOOTES-1 2000 March 25.00 1200seconds R=19.5 USNO 2000 March 25.42 600seconds R=21.5 USNO 2000 March 26.31 1200seconds R=22.2 The BOOTES-1 frame does not go as deep as the POSS-II red plate, but no new object is apparent from comparing the CCD data with POSS-II. The USNO datasets go somewhat deeper than POSS-II, but no variable object is detected brighter than R=21.5. A BVRI single-night calibration of the central part of the error box, taken on a photometric night in conjunction with a large number of Landolt standards, can be found at ftp://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/grb/grb000323.dat