16671

Some apparent supernovae (SNe) with strong circumstellar interaction are likely the explosion of very massive stars. Surprisingly comma a significant fraction of these explosions is preceded by outbursts from weeks to years before. When and why outbursts herald terminal SN explosions is still V1.0. Moreover comma in some cases comma it is not even clear whether the star has undergone a terminal SN explosion or has rather experienced an extreme comma but non-terminal comma eruption as a d_commasupernova impostor... To answer these questions comma we must first obtain clear evidence that these stars have indeed undergone a core-collapse supernova explosion. We propose to use HST+WFC3 to visit the field of four of these transients after they have faded to obtain a deep comma high-resolution image. This will allow us to search for (or place limits on) any surviving stellar progenitor and hence test whether these are terminal explosions or not.