TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 9722 SUBJECT: GRB 090727: Liverpool Telescope Afterglow Confirmation and Optical Flare DATE: 09/07/28 10:35:59 GMT FROM: Carole Mundell at ARI, JMU,Liverpool R.J. Smith, C.G. Mundell, I.A. Steele, A. Melandri, S. Kobayashi, C.J. Mottram, D.F. Bersier, Z. Cano (Liverpool JMU), A. Gomboc (Ljubljana), C. Guidorzi (INAF-OAB) report: "Further analysis of the optical light curves of the uncatalogued optical source, at RA(J2000)=21:03:50.6, Dec(J2000)= +64:55:30, reported by Smith & Mundell (GCN Circ. 9719) show significant variability and confirm this object as the optical afterglow of GRB 090727 (SWIFT trigger 358520, Evans et al, GCN Circ. 9718; Goad et al. GCN Circ. 9721). Within the first 100 mins, the optical light curve shows an early-time flare, peaking at r'=19.4 mag, followed by a plateau and break - features that are the same as suggested by the partially sampled XRT light curve. Observations are ongoing."