NUMBER:  3735
SUBJECT: GRB050802.422 : Fading of the afterglow and detection of the host galaxy
DATE:    05/08/04

Johan P. U. Fynbo, Brian L. Jensen, Jens Hjorth, Jesper Sollerman, Darach Watson, José María Castro Cerón (DARK Cosmology Centre/NBI), Javier Gorosabel (IAA-CSIC), Magnus Galfalk (Stockholm), Amanda Kaas (Nordic Optical Telescope) report:

"Using ALFOSC on the Nordic Optical Telescope we have obtained further imaging of the field of GRB 050802.422 (Band et al. GCN 3734, McGowan et al. GCN 3739) on 2005, August 3.9 UT. From Aug 2.9 UT to Aug 3.9 UT the object has faded from about R=20.5 to R=22.5 (based on preliminary photometry), indicating a fairly steep early decay.

In the image from Aug 3.9 there is contamination from an extended source, presumably the host galaxy. This fairly bright host galaxy makes it feasible to make an independent measurement of the redshift of the burst and hence confirm or reject the tentative measurement reported by Fynbo et al. GCN 3749.

An image of the field is shown at: