Abstract:
I will present some surprising new results about core-collapse supernovae enabled by the two Gemini telescopes. GMOS on Gemini South has provided evidence for a surviving massive binary companion to the Type IIb Supernova 2001ig, which in turn sheds light on the nature of the progenitor star. We have also made the first-ever laser guide star adaptive optics discovery of a supernova, using ALTAIR on Gemini North. Supernova 2008cs in the Luminous Infrared Galaxy IRAS 17138-1017 has the highest measured extinction (18 magnitudes in V) of any supernova yet found, and hints at a population of previously-hidden supernovae which could challenge the current estimates for star formation rates.