TITLE:   GCN CIRCULAR
NUMBER:  20636
SUBJECT: GRB 170208B: Etelman observatory optical observations
DATE:    17/02/09 05:22:46 GMT
FROM:    Bruce Gendre at ASDC  <bruce.gendre@gmail.com>

B. Gendre (UVI), N. Orange (OrangeWave Innovative Science, LLC), D.
Morris (UVI), A. Cucchiara (UVI), D. Drost (UVI), T. Giblin (USAF
Academy), J. Hakkila (College of Charleston), A. Klotz (IRAP), J. Neff
(NSF), D. Smith (UVI), J. Staff (UVI), P. Thierry (Auragne Observatory), 
R. Watlington (UVI), and L. Wentlent (UVI) report:

We observed the field of GRB 170208B (Siegel et al., GCN 20632) with the 
0.5m Virgin Island Robotic Telescope (VIRT) on February the 9th,
starting at 3:10 UT (4.7 hours after the trigger). We
performed a series of exposures in the clear filter. The weather
conditions were good during the  first hour of observation.

We co-added the exposures taken between 3h10UT and 4h17UT. At the 
position of the X-ray afterglow reported by Goad et al. (GCN 20635), we 
do not detect any optical emission, with an upper limit of R ~ 19 
(estimated from nearby USNO-B1 stars).

Magnitudes have not been corrected for Galactic extinction. The VIRT is
still in its commissioning phase.

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