Two more years of GRB optical afterglows

Abstract

I review the main observational achievements concerning GRB optical afterglows occurred in the past two years. Their emission seems to be well interpreted in terms of the `fireball' model, although a variety of behaviours are observed. Evidence for supernova-like late time `bumps' in the optical light curves is growing; however, other interpretations are possible. Fast follow-up observations allowed the detection of faint optical afterglows, and seem to suggest that a fraction of the so-called `dark' bursts might actually be re-classified as `dim' GRBs. Perspectives for future observations in this field are also outlined.