TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 16977 SUBJECT: GRB 141028A: GROND Afterglow confirmation (MASTER source) DATE: 14/10/29 02:03:03 GMT FROM: Alexander Kann at TLS Tautenburg J. F. Graham (MPE Garching), D. A. Kann (TLS Tautenburg), P. Schady, and J. Greiner (both MPE Garching) report on behalf of the GROND team: We observed the field of GRB 141028A (Fermi trigger 436186489; LAT detection: Bissaldi et al., GCN #16969; GBM Detection: Roberts; GCN #16971) simultaneously in g'r'i'z'JHK with GROND (Greiner et al. 2008, PASP 120, 405) mounted at the 2.2 m MPG telescope at ESO La Silla Observatory (Chile). Observations started at 23:57 UT on October 28th, approximately 13 hours after the GRB trigger. They were performed at an airmass of 1.2 and seeing of 1".4. At the position of the MASTER candidate afterglow (Gorbovskoy, GCN #16972) we detect a bright source at RA (J2000.0) = 322.60226 = 21:30:24.54 DEC (J2000.0) = -0.231314 = -00:13:52.7 with an error of 0".5. Based on images with an exposure time of 1500 s in the optical and 1200 s in the NIR, centered at 0.55305 days after the trigger, we estimate preliminary magnitudes and limits (all in AB system) for this source of: g' = 20.76 +/- 0.02 mag r' = 19.93 +/- 0.01 mag i' = 19.70 +/- 0.02 mag z' = 19.49 +/- 0.02 mag J = 19.24 +/- 0.11 mag H = 18.94 +/- 0.08 mag K > 18.3 mag Compared to the MASTER detection, the source has faded significantly. We also detect a fading by 0.1 +/- 0.03 mag over the time span of an hour. Furthermore, the SED is adequately described by a power-law of slope beta = 1.1, with a possible g'-band dropout, which may point to a redshift of around 3 (which would make this a luminous afterglow). At the position of the XRT source reported in the GRB_COUNTERPART POSITION NOTICE (Source 3 at http://www.swift.ac.uk/xrt_products/TILED_GRB00030/), we detect no source down to limiting magnitudes of: g' > 24.5 mag r' > 24.4 mag i' > 23.7 mag z' > 23.4 mag J > 20.9 mag H > 20.6 mag K > 18.3 mag We therefore deem it likely the MASTER source represents the afterglow of GRB 141028A. Given magnitudes are calibrated against SDSS field stars (g'r'i'z') and 2MASS field stars (JHK) and are not corrected for the expected Galactic foreground extinction corresponding to a reddening of E_(B- V) = 0.05 mag in the direction of the burst (Schlegel et al. 1998).