TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1401 SUBJECT: GRB020531(=H2042): Optical Observations DATE: 02/05/31 17:20:00 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago S. Snedden, D. Q. Lamb, B. C. Lee, D. L. Tucker, D. E. Vanden Berk, M. Harvanek, A. N. Kleinman, S. Kleinman, J. Krzesinski, D. Long, and P. R. Newman, on behalf of the SDSS GRB team, report: "We have observed the field of GRB020531 (=H2042) (GCN 1399) using the SDSS 0.5-m "Photometric Telescope" (PT) at APO under clear skies, a bright moon, and poor seeing on UTC 2002 May 31 from 04:54 to 09:32 UTC, beginning less than 4.5 hours after the burst. We took a series of ten 600 second r'-band exposures and fifteen 600 second i'-band exposures (41.5' x 41.5' field of view) that cover the entire improved HETE error rectangle for GRB020531 (GCN 1399). The summed images in r' reach deeper than the POSS plate limit, R~18. Visual comparison of the images and the DSS has not yet allowed us to identify any bright new object." This message is citable.