TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1294 SUBJECT: GRB 020322: Optical candidate DATE: 02/03/22 23:35:24 GMT FROM: Josh Bloom at CIT GRB 020322: Optical candidate J. S. Bloom (Caltech), N. Mirabal & J. P. Halpern (Columbia), D. W. Fox, and P. A. A. Lopes (Caltech), report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "Palomar R-band images referred to in GCN #1292 show a faint object consistent with the X-ray afterglow position and uncertainty reported from XMM (Ehle et al., GCN #1293). At 10:39 UT, 7.9 hours after the burst, an object is present at (J2000) 18:01:02.9, +81:06:28.1 Compared to a USNO star at 18:00:58.03, +81:06:08.3 listed as having R=17.5 mag, the candidate optical transient has R = 23.26 +/- 0.32 mag." This message may be cited.