Red and dead: The progenitor of SN 2012aw in M95
  Core-collapse supernovae (SNe) are the spectacular finale to massive stellar
evolution. In this Letter, we identify a progenitor for the nearby
core-collapse SN 2012aw in both ground based near-infrared, and space based
optical pre-explosion imaging. The SN itself appears to be a normal Type II
Plateau event, reaching a bolometric luminosity of 10$^{42}$ erg s$^{-1}$ and
photospheric velocities of $\sim$11,000 \kms\ from the position of the H$\beta$
P-Cygni minimum in the early SN spectra. We use an adaptive optics image to
show that the SN is coincident to within 27 mas with a faint, red source in
pre-explosion HST+WFPC2, VLT+ISAAC and NTT+SOFI images. The source has
magnitudes $F555W$=26.70$\pm$0.06, $F814W$=23.39$\pm$0.02, $J$=21.1$\pm$0.2,
$K$=19.1$\pm$0.4, which when compared to a grid of stellar models best matches
a red supergiant. Interestingly, the spectral energy distribution of the
progenitor also implies an extinction of $A_V>$1.2 mag, whereas the SN itself
does not appear to be significantly extinguished. We interpret this as evidence
for the destruction of dust in the SN explosion. The progenitor candidate has a
luminosity between 5.0 and 5.6 log L/\lsun, corresponding to a ZAMS mass
between 14 and 26 \msun\ (depending on $A_V$), which would make this one of the
most massive progenitors found for a core-collapse SN to date.
