2006CBET..409....1M

N. Mirabal, University of Michigan; and J. P. Halpern, Columbia University, report that the optical-afterglow candidate of GRB 060218 (cf. Cusumano et al., GCN 4775; IAUC 8674) was imaged at the MDM 2.4-m telescope (with RETROCAM) on Feb. 19.134 UT, yielding r' = 17.55 in comparison with SDSS photometry (Cool et al., GCN 4777). SN 2006aj is centered, to less than 0".2 in each coordinate, on a compact galaxy that has r = 19.93 in the SDSS pre-burst image, at R.A. = 3h21m39s.7, +16o52'02" (equinox 2000.0). A 0.8-nm-resolution spectrum obtained with the Boller & Chivens spectrograph on the same telescope on Feb. 20.097 reveals high-excitation starburst emission lines at z = 0.0331, as well as a blue continuum with a broad dip around 600 nm, similar to the type-Ic-supernova spectrum of SN 1998bw = GRB 980425. (See also Masetti et al., GCN 4803; Soderberg et al., GCN 4804).