TITLE: GCN CIRCULAR NUMBER: 2863 SUBJECT: GRB041218: optical observations DATE: 04/12/19 01:03:41 GMT FROM: Patrizia Ferrero at IASF/CNR,Bologna G. Greco, C. Bartolini, A. Guarnieri, and A. Piccioni (Universita' di Bologna), P. Ferrero (IASF/CNR/ Bologna/ Osservatorio e Universita' di Teramo), G. Pizzichini (IASF/CNR/ Bologna) and R.Gualandi (INAF/ Bologna Observatory) report: We observed the error region of GRB 041218 (Mereghetti,et al.,GCN 2858) with the 152 cm telescope in Loiano (Bologna University) in clear sky conditions (seeing ~2.5). The first observation started at 18h05m58s UT; the acquisition sequence was: R band 15x600 sec exposures; B band 1x1200 sec; V band 1X600 sec; R band 1x600 sec. We detect the candidate reported by Torii (GCN 2860) and Gorosabel et al. (GCN 2861). Our very preliminary estimate of the magnitude of the afterglow candidate in the first frame is R ~ 19.5. More precise analysis is in progress.