Program: GN-2018A-FT-104

We request time to obtain a spectrum of the bright Type IIP supernovae 2017eaw, as part of our spectrocopic monitoring of CO and dust production in that object. SN2017eaw has recently started forming molecules and dust in its ejecta. Whether core-collapse supernovae (ccSNe) are a significant source of dust is a long-standing debate. The large quantities of dust observed in high-redshift galaxies cannot have been produced by AGB stars, which are thought to produce most of the dust now, because their progenitor stars could not have evolved to the AGB dust-producing phase in high-redshift galaxies. In contrast, ccSNe occur within several millions of years after ttheir massive stellar progenitors form. Several ccSNe, including 1987A, are now known to have produced copious amounts of dust - up to one solar mass each, but very few have been tracked in detail during the production phase, as we have been doing with this SN. Specifically, we aim to continue to monitor (1) the evolution of the first overtone (2.3-2.4 microns) emission of CO, the molecule believed to be a prinicipal coolant of ccSNe ejecta that makes it possible for dust to form, and (2) the dust emission itself. As we are obtaining the full 1-2.5 microns cross-dispersed spectrum, much additional science is emerging from the multitude of atomic lines in the spectra.