TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  8271
SUBJECT: GRB 080919: REM NIR observations
DATE:    08/09/19 05:06:36 GMT
FROM:    Stefano Covino at Brera Astronomical Observatory  <stefano.covino@gmail.com>

S. Covino, L.A. Antonelli, L. Calzoletti,  S. Campana, G. Chincarini,  
M.L. Conciatore, S. Cutini,  V. D'Elia,  F. D'Alessio, P. D'Avanzo,  
F. Fiore, D. Fugazza, 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:


The robotic 60-cm REM telescope located at La Silla (Chile) observed  
automatically the field of the short GRB 080919 (Preger et al. GCN  
8270) starting from about 74s s after the GRB time. For a technical  
problem the images are of mediocre quality. However, we detect a  
source consistent with the position of the XRT transient and already  
present in the 2MASS catalogue (RA=17:40:53.778, DEC=-42:22:07.36)  
with H = 13.73 +- 0.03. In our frames the source appears at about  
H~14.0, constant within the duration of the REM observations (about  
30min).

At the present stage, beyond the position consistency, we can not  
infer whether this source is related or not to the fading X-ray  
source reported in Preger et al. (GCN 8270). Further observations are  
then encouraged.