Program: GS-2009A-Q-48

Most long (duration>2 seconds) gamma-ray bursts are related to core-collapse supernovae but from examples in hand, we know that there is a substantial diversity in the observed properties of these SNe and we know little about the range of supernovae and progenitor stars that can produce GRBs. Only five GRBs have spectra that reveal their underlying SN, and only two are genuine cosmological GRBs. Here we propose to obtain spectra of GRB afterglows to study the nature of the SNe underlying these extraordinary objects in order to characterise the progenitors. To ensure high-quality spectra, only GRBs with z<0.3 will be followed. It is likely that at least one GRB in this redshift range will be discovered during the upcoming semester.