Optical and Near Infrared Observations of the Afterglow of GRB 980329 from 15 Hours to 10 Days

Daniel E. Reichart, Donald Q. Lamb, Mark R. Metzger, Jean M. Quashnock, David M. Cole, Francisco J. Castander, Sylvio Klose, James E. Rhoads, Andrew S. Fruchter, Asantha R. Cooray, Daniel E. Vanden Berk

Published 1998-06-04, updated 1999-01-08Version 2

We report I-band observations of the GRB 980329 field made on March 29 with the 1.34-m Tautenberg Schmidt telescope, R-, J- and K-band observations made on April 1 with the APO 3.5-m telescope, R- and I-band observations made on April 3 with the Mayall 4-m telescope at KPNO, and J- and K-band observations made between April 6 - 8 with the Keck-I 10-m telescope. We show that these and other reported measurements are consistent with a power-law fading of the optical/near infrared source that is coincident with the variable radio source VLA J0702+3850. This firmly establishes that this source is the afterglow of GRB 980329.