//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1945 SUBJECT: GRB 030324, optical observations DATE: 03/03/24 11:08:39 GMT FROM: Alberto Castro-Tirado at Inst.de Astro. de Andalucia S. Guzyi, A. J. Castro-Tirado (IAA-CSIC, Granada) N. Cardiel, S. Pedraz (CAHA, Calar Alto) S. Huferath, G. Worseck (AIP, Potsdam) J. Greiner (MPE, Garching) S. Klose (TLS, Tautenburg) A. de Ugarte (IAA-CSIC) J. Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC/STScI) report: Following the HETE-2 ground-based analysis position for GRB 030324 (trigger 2641), we have gotten a 300-s R-band image with the 2.2-m CAHA telescope (+CAFOS, 16' diameter FOV) at the German-Spanish Calar Alto Observatory in Southern Spain. The frame covers 90% of the HETE-2 14' diameter error box (missing a 2' ring at the border towards the NW of it) and it was taken starting at 04:41:43 UT (i.e.about 1.5 hr after the onset of the event). No obvious counterpart is found down to R = 20, when comparing with the DSS-2 (R-band). Further near-IR and deeper optical observations would be potentially interesting. This message can be quoted. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1947 SUBJECT: GRB 030324 optical observations DATE: 03/03/24 17:57:21 GMT FROM: Saurabh Jha at UC Berkeley W. Li, S. Jha, R. Chornock, and A. V. Filippenko (UC Berkeley), report that unfiltered images of a 12 arcmin x 12 arcmin region centered at the position of GRB 030324 (HETE Trigger #2641; 13h37m11s -00d19'22" J2000), covering roughly 90% of the HETE WXC error circle, were taken with the Katzman Automatic Imaging Telescope (KAIT) at 06:18 UT (about 3 hours after the burst) and show no obvious new source compared with the DSS II (red) to a limiting magnitude of 19.5 mag, consistent with the results of Guzyi et al. (GCN 1945). This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1950 SUBJECT: GRB030324, BVRcIc field photometry DATE: 03/03/24 20:26:15 GMT FROM: Arne A. Henden at USNO/USRA A. Henden (USRA/USNO) reports on behalf of the USNO GRB team: We have acquired BVRcIc all-sky photometry for a 20x20 arcmin field centered at the coordinates for the HETE burst GRB030324 (HETE trigger 2641) with the USNOFS 1.0-m telescope on one very marginal photometric night. Stars brighter than V=13.5 are saturated and should be used with care. We have placed the photometric data on our anonymous ftp site: ftp://ftp.nofs.navy.mil/pub/outgoing/aah/grb/grb030324.dat The astrometry in this file is based on linear plate solutions with respect to UCAC2. The external errors are less than 100mas. There were approaching clouds from a weak frontal system that do not appear to have reached this field until well after the observations, but until further calibration is performed, a systematic error is possible. Based purely on the standard star observations, the estimated external photometric error is 0.03mag. If an OT is discovered, this calibration will be extended with additional nights. We will not be performing U-band calibration unless requested. As always, you should check the dates on the .dat file prior to final publication to get the latest photometry. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1954 SUBJECT: GRB030324 (=H2641): A Long GRB Localized in Real Time by the HETE WXM DATE: 03/03/25 21:00:53 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago T. Donaghy, M. Suzuki, Y. Shirasaki, C. Graziani, M. Matsuoka, T. Tamagawa, K. Torii, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, E. Fenimore, M. Galassi, T. Tavenner, Y. Nakagawa, D. Takahashi, R. Satoh, and Y. Urata, on behalf of the HETE WXM Team; G. Ricker, J-L Atteia, N. Kawai, D. Lamb, and S. Woosley on behalf of the HETE Science Team; R. Vanderspek, J. Doty, J. Villasenor, G. Crew, G. Monnelly, N. Butler, T. Cline, J.G. Jernigan, A. Levine, F. Martel, E. Morgan, G. Prigozhin, G. Azzibrouck, J. Braga, R. Manchanda, and G. Pizzichini, on behalf of the HETE Operations and HETE Optical-SXC Teams; M. Boer, J-F Olive, J-P Dezalay, C. Barraud and K. Hurley on behalf of the HETE FREGATE Team; write: At 03:12:42.80 UTC (11562.80 s UT) on 24 Mar 2003, the HETE FREGATE and WXM instruments detected event H2461, a long GRB. The WXM flight localization was correct and was reported in a GCN Notice at 03:13:07 UTC, 25 sec after the beginning of the burst Ground analysis of the WXM WXM data for the burst produced a refined location, which was reported in a GCN Notice at 04:23:48 UT, 71 minutes after the burst. The WXM localization SNR was 16. The WXM location can be expressed as a 90% confidence circle that is 7 arcminutes in radius and is centered at WXM: RA = +13h 37m 11s, Dec = -00d 19' 22" (J2000). The SXC turns off at orbit dawn; this happened 10 sec before the beginning of the burst, and therefore there will be no SXC localization for this burst. The burst duration t_90 in the 30-400 keV band was ~ 8.7 s. The fluence of the burst was 1.6 x 10-6 ergs cm-2 and the peak flux over 5 s was ~1.4 x 10-7 ergs cm-2 s-1 (i.e., ~ 5 x Crab flux) in the same energy band. A light curve and skymap for GRB030324 is provided at the following URL: http://space.mit.edu/HETE/Bursts/GRB030324 [GCN OPS NOTE (25mar03): The Subject-line has been changed from the incorrect "GRB030323 (=H2640): A Faint, Long GRB Localized by the HETE WXM and SXC" to the correct "GRB030324 (=H2641): A Long GRB Localized in Real Time by the HETE WXM".] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1955 SUBJECT: GRB030324 (=H2641): A Long GRB Localized in Real Time by the HETE WXM DATE: 03/03/25 21:16:55 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago T. Donaghy, M. Suzuki, Y. Shirasaki, C. Graziani, M. Matsuoka, T. Tamagawa, K. Torii, T. Sakamoto, A. Yoshida, E. Fenimore, M. Galassi, T. Tavenner, Y. Nakagawa, D. Takahashi, R. Satoh, and Y. Urata, on behalf of the HETE WXM Team; G. Ricker, J-L Atteia, N. Kawai, D. Lamb, and S. Woosley on behalf of the HETE Science Team; R. Vanderspek, J. Doty, J. Villasenor, G. Crew, G. Monnelly, N. Butler, T. Cline, J.G. Jernigan, A. Levine, F. Martel, E. Morgan, G. Prigozhin, G. Azzibrouck, J. Braga, R. Manchanda, and G. Pizzichini, on behalf of the HETE Operations and HETE Optical-SXC Teams; M. Boer, J-F Olive, J-P Dezalay, C. Barraud and K. Hurley on behalf of the HETE FREGATE Team; write: The title of GCN Circular 1954 is incorrect; it should read: "GRB030324 (=H2641): A Long GRB Localized in Real Time by the HETE WXM." [GCN OPS NOTE (25mar03): The copy of 1954 has already been fixed.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1958 SUBJECT: GRB030324, Optical Observations DATE: 03/03/25 23:01:21 GMT FROM: Eli Rykoff at Univ. of Michigan/ROTSE E. S. Rykoff and D. A. Smith on behalf of the ROTSE collaboration report: We have observed the full error box of GRB 030324 (HETE trigger 2641) using the ROTSE-3B 0.45 meter telescope at McDonald Observatory, Texas, starting March 24, 4:27 UT (1.24 hours after the burst). Sixty one-minute unfiltered exposures were taken, with limiting magnitudes between 18.1 and 18.5 calibrated against USNO A2.0 R-band. We co-added the frames in sets of 20 to achieve limiting magnitudes of ~ 19.6. Of the sources detected within the 7' error radius from the position reported in GCN 1954 (Donaghy, et. al.), most could be associated with stars in the USNO catalog. None of the others was found to vary over the hour of observations. Visual comparison between DSS-2 (R-band) and several ROTSE images reveal no counterpart candidates. We have also compared the first co-added frame to a co-added follow-up sequence taken the following night (23 hours after the burst). Visual inspection reveals each ROTSE-III source visible on March 24 is still visible on March 25. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1959 SUBJECT: GRB 030324 (HETE #2641): Optical observations DATE: 03/03/26 00:02:10 GMT FROM: Paul Price at RSAA, ANU P.A. Price, R. McNaught and G.J. Garradd (RSAA, ANU) report: We have observed the error box of GRB 030324 (HETE trigger #2641; Donaghy et al., GCN 1954) with the 40-inch telescope at Siding Spring Observatory. Observations consisted of 6x300 sec integrations in R-band at each of three epochs and cover the entire error-circle. Approximate limiting magnitudes at each epoch are: Epoch (UT) R_lim Mar 24.523 21.4 mag Mar 24.727 21.0 mag Mar 25.674 21.4 mag We do not identify any afterglow candidates upon image subtraction between each of the epochs or upon comparison of the first epoch with the DSS 2. This message may be cited. [GCN OPS NOTE (25mar03): At PAP's request, G.J. Garradd was added to the author list.] //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1961 SUBJECT: GRB 030324: TAROT optical observations DATE: 03/03/26 12:10:08 GMT FROM: Jean-Luc Atteia at Lab d Astrophys.,OMP,Toulouse Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit A. Klotz, J.L. Atteia, M. Boer communicate: The TAROT robotic observatory reacted within seconds to the HETE trigger H 2641 = GRB 030324. The images started at 3h13m10.75s UT, 3 seconds after the GCN notice and 27.95s after the trigger. The first 30s image, taken between 27.95s and 57.95s after the trigger shows no OT with a limiting R magnitude of about 14.8. Seven images were co-added, taken between 27.95s and 252.2s after the GRB. The co-added image shows no OT with a limiting R magnitude about 15.2. The limiting magnitude of TAROT images are lower than usual because the hour angle motion of the telescope was inopportunely stopped during images. This acquisition mode allows to record time resolved flickering in case were OT is very bright, but it was not the case for this GRB. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1963 SUBJECT: GRB030324, optical observations DATE: 03/03/26 21:27:35 GMT FROM: Adalberto Piccioni at Astronomy, Bologna U. A. Piccioni, C. Bartolini, S. Bernabei, A. Guarnieri, I. Bruni (Bologna University and Bologna Astronomical Observatory) and G. Pizzichini (IASF-CNR, Sezione di Bologna) report: We have observed the error box of GRB030324 (GCN 1954, HETE trigger 2641) in the nights of March 24 and 25 with the 152 cm Loiano telescope of Bologna University. We have obtained the following two images: mid exp. filter exposure time approx. UT (seconds) limiting mag Mar 24.9837 R 1800 21.9 Mar 25.9852 R 1800 21.4 We find no OT candidate in our first frame with respect to DSSII. By the comparison of the two frames we do not detect any object fading more than the internal error of the measurements. Our images can be retrieved in format jpeg by sftp using hostname: ermione.bo.astro.it username: publicGRB password: GRB_bo This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1964 SUBJECT: GRB030324, optical observations DATE: 03/03/26 21:46:18 GMT FROM: Vasilij Rumjantsev at CrAO V.Rumyantsev (CrAO) and A.Pozanenko (IKI) report: We have observed the full error box of GRB 030324 (HETE Trigger #2641, Seq_Num: 5) in CrAO with AT-64 telescope. 10 unfiltered images were obtained in March, 24 between (UT) 20:20 and 20:56. No afterglow candidate was found in comparison with DSS2. Using photometry by A. Henden (GCN 1950) R-band we estimate the limiting magnitudes of combined images (S/N=3) as following Start time (UT) telescope exposure limiting mag. March 24 20:20 AT-64 10x180 s 20.0 This message can be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 1972 SUBJECT: GRB030324 optical observation DATE: 03/03/27 22:18:28 GMT FROM: Gianluca Masi at Bellatrix Astronomical Obs G. Masi (University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and European Southern Observatory, Chile), B. L. Jensen, J. Hjorth (Copenhagen University) and R. Michelsen (Astronomical Observatory, Copenhagen) report: We imaged the field around the GRB030324 event (trigger 2641) on March 24, 05:10 UT, with the 1.54-m Danish Telescope (La Silla) + DFOSC CCD, covering a field of 13x13 square arcmins. Adding three 180s R-band images, we do not see any obvious OT candidate down to the limit of the DSS-2 (R-band). This message can be cited //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2032 SUBJECT: GRB 030324, optical search DATE: 03/03/30 22:30:48 GMT FROM: Peter Garnavich at U of Notre Dame K. Luhman, T. Megeath, T. Spahr, K.Z. Stanek (CfA), S. Holland P. Garnavich (Notre Dame) We observed the error circle of GRB 030324 (GCN 1954) with the Fred L. Whipple 1.2-m telescope and R filter on three epochs: Date Time t (days) R_lim Mar. 24 06:25 0.134 22.4 Mar. 24 10:37 0.309 22.5 Mar. 26 07:52 2.194 22.7 where R_lim is the 3-sigma limiting magnitude. Visual comparison and subtraction of the the epochs reveals no new, strongly variable sources down to the corresponding limits. A star present on the digitized sky survey at 13:37:19.23 -00:16:21 (2000) is seen to vary between 19.2 and 18.8 in the R-band. Deep R-band images centered on the error circle, but covering only the inner 7.4' diameter field were obtained with the Magellan 6.5-m Clay telescope and LDSS2 imaging/spectrograph: Date Time t (days) R_lim Mar. 24 08:14 0.210 23.1 Mar. 25 05:35 1.100 23.3 and subtraction of these images does not reveal any new, variable sources. This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2037 SUBJECT: GRB 030324: Optical and NIR Observations DATE: 03/03/31 02:08:48 GMT FROM: Daniel E. Reichart at U.North Carolina J. Moran, A. Henden, D. Lamb, D. York, M. Nysewander, J. Barentine, J. Dembicky, C. Graziani, E. Sheldon, R. Soule, M. Bayliss, H. Cheng, C. Cook, M. Lopez-Morales, D. Reichart, R. McMillan, B. Ketzeback, C. Blacker, and A. Reese report on behalf of the USNO, ARC, and UNC GRB teams of the FUN GRB collaboration: We observed the 14 arcminute diameter error circle of GRB 030324 (Donaghy et al., GCN 1954, 1955) in BVRci*IcH beginning 2.1 hours after the burst. Using the field calibration of Henden (GCN 1860) and 2MASS, we report the following limiting magnitudes: Start Start Time Mean Time Filter Integration Limiting Telescope Date Since GRB Since GRB Time (sec) Magnitude (hours) (hours) x Pointings (3 sigma) Mar 24.222 2.12 2.12 Ic 300 x 1 20.2 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.227 2.24 2.24 Rc 300 x 1 21.1 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.232 2.36 2.96 B 3000 x 1 23.0 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.240 2.55 3.15 V 1200 x 1 22.4 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.259 3.00 3.30 H 600 x 4 19.0 1.55-m USNO Mar 24.332 4.76 5.90 Rc 1478 x 4 19.2 0.6-m MO(1) Mar 24.345 5.06 5.06 B 600 x 1 22.0 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.349 5.16 6.22 i* 1200 x 4 23.8 - 3.5-m ARC + 2400 x 1 24.3(2) Mar 24.353 5.26 6.49 V 2400 x 1 22.7 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.358 5.37 6.64 Rc 2400 x 1 22.3 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.362 5.48 6.60 Ic 2400 x 1 21.6 1.0-m USNO Mar 24.364 5.52 5.94 H 900 x 4 19.3 1.55-m USNO Mar 24.389 6.11 6.71 Ic 4200 x 1 16.7(3) 0.2-m PST(4) Mar 26.477 56.22 56.74 Ic 3600 x 1 21.9(5) 1.0-m USNO (1) Morehead Observatory telescope (2) Mosaic pattern results in a limiting magnitude that is 23.8 on the sides and 24.3 in the center (3) 5-sigma limiting magnitude (4) Pisgah Survey Telescope at the Pisgah Astronomical Research Institute (PARI) (5) Central 11.3' x 11.3' Using the image subtraction routine ISIS2 (Alard 2000), we find no transient sources between any of our same-filter images to limiting magnitudes of B = 22.0, V = 22.4, Rc = 21.1, Ic = 20.2, and H = 19.0 between 2.1 and 3.3 hours after the burst. Furthermore, we find no transient sources between our ARC images and SDSS images of this field taken in March 1999 to a limiting magnitude of i* = 22.2 at 6.2 hours after the burst. To these limiting magnitudes, GRB 030324 appears to be a dark burst, not only at optical wavelengths, but interestingly also at NIR wavelengths. Alard, C. 2000, A&AS, 114, 363 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2139 SUBJECT: GRB030324: Candidate Optical Afterglow DATE: 03/04/16 01:00:50 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago D. Q. Lamb, M. Nysewander, D. Reichart, D. G. York, J. Barentine, R. McMillan, J. Dembicky, and B. Ketzeback report on behalf of the ARC and UNC GRB teams of the FUN GRB collaboration: We observed the 14 arcminute diameter HETE-2 WXM localization error circle for GRB030324 (Donaghy et al., GCN 1954, 1955) in i* on the night of March 24 UT, beginning 6.22 hours after the burst (Moran, GCN 2037). We also observed the WXM localization error circle in i* on the night of April 5 UT, approximately 12 days after the burst. On both nights, we took two 1200-second exposures centered at the origin of the WXM error circle and a mosaic of four overlapping 1200-second exposures covering the entire WXM error circle. The limiting magnitude of the first observation thus ranged from i* = 24.3 (3 sigma) at the center of the WXM error circle to i* = 23.8 (3 sigma) at the edge of the mosaic. Similarly, the limiting magnitude of the second observation ranged from i* = 24.0 (3 sigma) at the center of the WXM error circle to 23.5 (3 sigma) at the edge of the mosaic. Subtraction of the two images, using the image subtraction routine ISIS2 (Alard 2000), reveals a single candidate optical afterglow at RA = +13h 37m 04.418s, Dec = -00d 15' 33.56" (J2000). The candidate optical afterglow is i* = 23.4 +/- 0.2 (S/N = 4.3) in the first epoch image, using the calibration of Henden (GCN 1860), whereas no object is detected at the same location down to a limiting magnitude of i* = 23.9 (2 sigma) in the second epoch image. The first and second epoch images, with the location of the candidate optical afterglow circled, can be found at http://astro.uchicago.edu/candidate_optical_afterglow.jpg, and a sky map showing the HETE-2 WXM localization error circle and the location of the candidate optical afterglow can be found at http://astro.uchicago.edu/wxm_loc_and_candidate.gif. We cannot rule out that the candidate is a variable star. However, a typical cataclysmic variable or an RR Lyrae variable would have to be ~ 0.5 Mpc away and a typical Cepheid variable would have to be ~2 Mpc away to be as faint as i* = 23.4. In either case, the object can not be associated with the Milky Way galaxy, making the likelihood very small that the object that we have detected is a variable star. If this object is indeed the optical afterglow of GRB030324, it would be the faintest optical afterglow ever detected. Alard, C. 2000, A&AS, 114, 363 //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2140 SUBJECT: GRB030324: Candidate Optical Afterglow (Erratum) DATE: 03/04/16 03:05:52 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago D. Q. Lamb, M. Nysewander, D. Reichart, D. G. York, J. Barentine, R. McMillan, J. Dembicky, and B. Ketzeback report on behalf of the ARC and UNC GRB teams of the FUN GRB collaboration: The coordinates we report for the candidate optical afterglow are in the FK5 system and are uncertain to +/- 0.6 arcseconds. The URLs at which the first and second epoch images and the sky map can be found should read, http://astro.uchicago.edu/home/web/lamb/candidate_optical_afterglow.jpg and http://astro.uchicago.edu/home/web/lamb/wxm_loc_and_candidate.gif. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2177 SUBJECT: GRB 030324: Radio Observations DATE: 03/04/29 15:05:51 GMT FROM: Edo Berger at Caltech E. Berger (Caltech) and D. A. Frail (NRAO) report on behalf of a larger collaboration: "We observed the error circle of GRB 030324 (GCN 1954) with the VLA on 2003, April 19.10 UT at 8.46 GHz. With the exception of a source at (J2000) RA=13:36:59.3, DEC=-00:17:25.1 which is visible in a FIRST survey image (http://sundog.stsci.edu/top.html), there are no sources within the error circle down to a 3-sigma limit of 0.18 mJy. In particular, we do not detect a radio source at the position of the putative optical afterglow suggested by Lamb et al. (GCN 2139) down to the same limit." This message may be cited. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2239 SUBJECT: GRB030324: Further Observations of the Candidate Optical Afterglow DATE: 03/05/20 23:41:06 GMT FROM: Don Lamb at U.Chicago D. Q. Lamb, M. Nysewander, D. Reichart, D. G. York, R. McMillan, J. Barentine, J. Dembicky, and B. Ketzeback report on behalf of the ARC and UNC GRB teams of the FUN GRB collaboration: Using a larger sample of standard stars from Henden (GCN 1950), we measure the magnitude of the candidate optical afterglow (Lamb et al. GCNs 2139, 2140) of GRB030324 (Donaghy et al., GCN 1954, 1955) on the night of March 24 UT to be i* = 23.48 +/- 0.21 (S/N = 4.3). On May 3 UT, we obtained a further five 600-second i* images of the field of the candidate optical afterglow. We find no object at the location of the candidate optical afterglow down to the limiting magnitude of the stacked image, which is i* = 25.1 (2 sigma). We also find no object at the location of the candidate optical afterglow down to the limiting magnitude of the stacked image constructed by combining the 1200-second i* image obtained on April 5 UT (Lamb et al. GCNs 2139, 2140) and the five 600-second i* images obtained on May 3 UT, which is i* = 25.3 (2 sigma). This further rules out the possibility that the star-like object we detected on the night of March 24 UT is a variable star and places a limit on the brightness of the host galaxy of GRB030324 of i* > 25.3 (2 sigma), if the object is the optical afterglow of GRB030324. //////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// TITLE: GCN GRB OBSERVATION REPORT NUMBER: 2601 SUBJECT: GRB 030324: Detection and Color of Host Galaxy DATE: 04/05/18 18:40:54 GMT FROM: Melissa Nysewander at UNC,Chapel Hill M. C. Nysewander, P. A. Price, D. E. Reichart, and D. Q. Lamb report on behalf of the Follow-Up Network for Gamma-Ray Bursts (FUN GRB) Collaboration: On April 15, 2004, we observed the location of the candidate afterglow (Lamb et al., GCNs 2139, 2140, 2239) of GRB 030324 (Donaghy et al., GCNs 1954, 1955) with the LRIS instrument on the Keck I telescope in simultaneous imaging mode in G and R filters. We obtained stacked images of 2130 sec in G and 1805 sec in R (cut short due to instrument error) under conditions of moderate humidity and seeing. Using the standard transformation equations of Smith et al. (2002) and the field calibration of Henden (GCN 1950), we calibrated the stacked images using the six unsaturated stars in our field. A source is present at the location of the candidate afterglow in both stacked images, with magnitudes g' = 25.29 +/- 0.09 mag and R = 25.16 +/- 0.24 mag. First, we rule out the possibility of a variable star. Fitting a blackbody + Galactic extinction curve model to these data, we find that log T > 3.75 at the 3 sigma level. This rules out flare stars (UV Cet variables), which are cooler than log T = 3.5. The fitted temperature is consistent with RR Lyraes and shorter period Cepheids, but these classes of variables stars are also ruled out, for two reasons: 1. RR Lyraes and Cepheids vary by less than 1.3 mag. However, Lamb et al. (GCN 2239) measured a fading from i* = 23.48 +/- 0.21 mag to i* > 25.4 mag (2 sigma upper limit; GCN 2239). 2. To be this faint, an RR Lyrae would have to be >0.5 Mpc away and a Cepheid would have to be >3.5 Mpc away, placing either well outside of the Galaxy. Consequently, we conclude that we have detected the host galaxy of GRB 030324. Detection of the galaxy in the G band implies that its redshift is <2.7. The spectral flux distribution of the galaxy is flat, which makes this a relatively blue galaxy, even for a GRB host galaxy. Images and the spectral flux distribution are available at www.physics.unc.edu/~mnysewan/grb030324.html Smith et al. 2002, ApJ, 123, 2121