TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  13695
SUBJECT: GRB 120817B - PTF Observations
DATE:    12/08/21 05:13:04 GMT
FROM:    S. Bradley Cenko at Caltech  <cenko@srl.caltech.edu>

S. B. Cenko (UC Berkeley), E. O. Ofek (Weizmann Institute) and D. B.
Fox (Penn State) report on behalf of a larger collaboration:

We have imaged the field of the IPN short-hard GRB120817B (Golenetskii et
al., GCN 13670) with the Palomar 48 inch Oschin telescope (P48) as part of
the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF).  Images were obtained in the Mould R
filter on 2012 Aug 19.4 and 20.4 UT.

Inside the error localization derived from ground-based analysis of the
Swift BAT (Cummings et al., GCN 13692), we find no new sources when
compared with Digitized Sky Survey images of the field on either night.
Digitally subtracting coadded frames from the two nights, we find no
fading sources within the field to a limiting magnitude of R > 20.5
(calibrated with respect to field stars from the USNO-B1 catalog).

Finally, we note that the error circle does not appear to contain any
bright, resolved (i.e. nearby) galaxies.  No known galaxies are listed in
the NASA Extragalactic Database within 5 arcmin of the center of the Swift
BAT localization.

[GCN OPS NOTE(22aug12):  Per author's request, "120718B" in the Subject-line
was changed to "120817B".]