The Faint Afterglow and Host Galaxy of the Short-Hard GRB 060121

We present optical and X-ray observations of the afterglow and host galaxy of the short-hard GRB 060121. The faint R-band afterglow is seen to decline as t^ (-0. 66) while the X-ray falls as t^-1. 18, indicating the presence of the cooling break between the two frequencies. However, the R-band afterglow is very faint compared to the predicted extrapolation of the X-ray afterglow to the optical regime (specifically, betaOX ~ 0. 2), while the K-band is consistent with this extrapolation (betaKX ~ 0. 6), demonstrating suppression of the optical flux. Late time \ HST observations place stringent limits on the afterglow R-band flux implying a break in the R-band lightcurve. They also show that the burst occurred at the edge of a faint red galaxy which most likely lies at a significantly higher redshift than the previous optically identified short-duration bursts. Several neighboring galaxies also have very red colors that are similarly suggestive of higher redshift. We consider possible explanations for the faintness and color of the burst. Our preferred model is that the burst occurred at moderately high redshift and was significantly obscured; however, it is also possible that the burst lies at z > 4. 5 in which case the faintness of the R-band afterglow could be attributed to the Lyman-break. We discuss the implications that either scenario would have for the nature of the progenitors of short bursts.