The Very Massive and Hot LMC Star VFTS 682: Progenitor of a Future Dark
  Gamma-Ray Burst?
  VFTS 682, a very massive and very hot Wolf-Rayet (WR) star recently
discovered in the Large Magellanic Cloud near the famous star cluster R136,
might be providing us with a glimpse of a missing link in our understanding of
Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (LGRBs), including dark GRBs. It is likely its properties
result from chemically homogeneous evolution (CHE), believed to be a key
process for a massive star to become a GRB. It is also heavily obscured by dust
extinction, which could make it a dark GRB upon explosion. Using Spitzer data
we investigate the properties of interstellar dust in the vicinity of R136, and
argue that its high obscuration is not unusual for its environment and that it
could indeed be a slow runaway ("walkaway") from R136. Unfortunately, based on
its current mass loss rate, VFTS 682 is unlikely to become a GRB, because it
will lose too much angular momentum at its death. If it were to become a GRB,
it probably would also not be dark, either escaping or destroying its
surrounding dusty region. Nevertheless, it is a very interesting star,
deserving further studies, and being one of only three presently identified WR
stars (two others in the Small Magellanic Cloud) that seems to be undergoing
CHE.
