TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  9605
SUBJECT: XRF 090702: VLT imaging
DATE:    09/07/03 01:23:47 GMT
FROM:    Paolo D'Avanzo at INAF-OAB  <paolo.davanzo@brera.inaf.it>

P. D'Avanzo (Univ. Bicocca/INAF-OAB), S. Campana, S. Covino (INAF-OAB), 
E. Bozzo (ISDC) and L. Stella (INAF-OAR) report, on behalf of a larger 
collaboration:

We observed the field of XRF 090702 (Paizis et al., GCN 9603) with the 
ESO-VLT equipped with the FORS2 camera in imaging mode. In a first 
series of R-band images (6 minutes of total exposure time) carried out 
on Jul 2.9965, we do not see any optical counterpart inside the XRT 
error circle (Sbarufatti & Mangano, GCN 9604) down to a limiting 
magnitude of R > 24.2 (3sigma limit, calibrated against USNOB1 catalogue).

We note that the GRB position is about 10 deg from the Virgo Cluster.

We aknowledge the Paranal staff for their support, in particular C. 
Ledoux and K. O'Brien.