TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 5268 SUBJECT: GRB050223: Host Galaxy DATE: 06/06/16 20:57:59 GMT FROM: Leonardo Pellizza at CEA/Saclay L.J. Pellizza (CEA Saclay, France & IAFE, Argentina), P.-A. Duc (CEA Saclay, France), E. Le Floc'h (Steward Obs., USA), & I.F. Mirabel (ESO), on behalf of the MISTICI collaboration. We imaged the field of GRB 050223 (Mitani et al. 2005, GCN 3055) on May 10, 2005 and June 5, 2005. R (10 x 308 seconds) and Ks (42 x 60 seconds) frames were obtained respectively with FORS1 and ISAAC at VLT. In the combined R and Ks images we detect a single galaxy within the revised XRT error circle (Moretti et al. 2006, A&A, 448, L9), down to our limiting magnitudes R_lim ~ 26 and Ks_lim ~ 21. Its position is RA(J2000) = 18:05:32.99, DEC(J2000) = -62:28:18.8 (0.2 arcsec error), We measured R = 21.6 and Ks = 18.9 for this object (with an uncertainty of ~0.1 mag). Astrometry was performed using USNO B1.0 stars, while photometry was calibrated against 2MASS and USNO B1.0 (second epoch) magnitudes.