Program: GN-2024A-DD-101

We wish to obtain a fifth and final GNIRS spectrum of supernova SN2023ixf, before it is too faint to obtain a good quality IR spectrum from the ground. The most recent (fourth) spectrum showed unusually strong dust and carbon monoxide (CO) emission, when neither was present in the earlier spectra. Because of (1) the dramatic change in the spectrum and (2) the fading of the SN (it will be essentially unobservable with Gemini/GNIRS in another month), an additional spectrum obtained during the second half of February is critical to determine if there are further spectral changes in the unique CO band emission and dust continuum, and to assess if the dust is newly created or newly reheated (which addresses the important cosmological question of dust production in the early Universe). It could also be a key to linking the ground-based IR spectra to IR spectra expected to be obtained at later dates by the JWST.