TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 11608 SUBJECT: GRB 110128A: WHT redshifts of nearby field galaxies DATE: 11/01/28 14:21:48 GMT FROM: Nial Tanvir at U.Leicester N. R. Tanvir, K. Wiersema (U. Leicester), A. J. Levan (U. Warwick), A. Kamble (U. Wisconsin), A. Cardwell (ING) and E. M. Ratti (SRON) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: We obtained spectroscopy of the afterglow of GRB 110128A (GCN 11603, GCN 11605) and of two field galaxies nearby, using the 4.2 William Herschel Telescope on La Palma.  Observations began at 04:26 UT, approximately 2.7 hours post-burst, and comprised a 60 minute total exposure. The spectra cover a wavelength range from about 4500A to 9400A. The signal-to-noise, of the afterglow spectrum is not sufficient to confirm the redshift reported in Sparre et al. in GCN 11607 (and note, our spectral range did not cover the DLA feature), however we did measure the redshifts of two field galaxies which are sufficiently close to the line of sight that they might produce absorption in the afterglow: Gal 1: RA=12:55:35.38, dec=+28:03:57.6 z=0.639 based on [OII]3727, CaII H & K, Hbeta Offset from afterglow=5 arcsec, corresponding to ~35 kpc impact parameter to GRB Gal 2: RA=12:55:36.40, dec=+28:04:12.1 z=0.109 based on Ha and [NII] Offset from afterglow=25 arcsec, corresponding to ~50 kpc impact parameter to GRB