TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 8037 SUBJECT: GRB 080727B: REM NIR afterglow prompt detection DATE: 08/07/28 07:27:46 GMT FROM: Paolo D'Avanzo at INAF-OAB P. D'Avanzo, S. Covino, L.A. Antonelli, D. Malesani, D. Fugazza, L. Calzoletti, S. Campana, G. Chincarini, M.L. Conciatore, S. Cutini, V. D'Elia, F. D'Alessio, F. Fiore, P. Goldoni, D. Guetta, C. Guidorzi, G.L. Israel, E. Maiorano, N. Masetti, A. Melandri, E. Meurs, L. Nicastro, E. Palazzi, E. Pian, S. Piranomonte, L. Stella, G. Stratta, G. Tagliaferri, G. Tosti, V.Testa, S.D. Vergani, F. Vitali report on behalf of the REM team: Following the KAIT detection of the optical afterglow of GRB 080727B (Li et al. GCN 8024) we performed a detailed off-line analysis of our REM images (D'Avanzo et al., GCN 8023). While we confirm the non-detection of the optical afterglow in the R-band down to the 16th magnitude (30 s of total exposure), we find a barely visible object in our coadded H-band frame (50 s of total exposure) with a magnitude of H = 11.8 ± 0.2 (calibrated against the 2MASS catalogue) at a position consistent with the one reported by Li et al. Unfortunately, just after taking the first R and H-band images, the telescope experienced tracking problems, due to the low altitude of the object with respect to the horizon, and we do not have more images of this GRB. The inferred unabsorbed color (R-H = 3.24 mag) is consistent with the hypothesis of an highly absorbed or high redshift event (Landsman et al. GCN 8033).