Keck Spectroscopy andHubble Space TelescopeImaging of GRB 000926: Probing a Host Galaxy atz= 2.038

We present early-time Keck spectroscopic observations and late-time HubbleSpace Telescope (HST) imaging of GRB 000926. The HST images show a small offsetbetween the optical transient and the compact host galaxy. Combined with thelarge equivalent widths measured for metallic absorption lines by the KeckEchellette Spectrograph and Imager (ESI) and the Low-Resolution ImagingSpectrometer (LRIS), this indicates that the GRB exploded near the center ofits host. The ESI spectroscopy reveals two absorption systems centered at z =2.0379 \pm 0.0008 with a velocity separation of 168 km s^{-1}, which weinterpret as being due to individual clouds in the host galaxy. The ratios ofchromium to zinc equivalent widths indicates the host is depleted in dustrelative to local values to a similar degree as damped Lyman alpha systems atthe same redshift. Further, the two clouds appear to have similar relativemetal abundance and dust to gas ratio. If one cloud is associated with the GRBsite, this implies the explosion did not significantly alter the surroundingenvironment.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa