0.9-18um obs. of SN 2021afdx

Our ground-based optical observations show it is likely to be a Type IIb SN, the explosion of a yellow supergiant, and its infrared spectral energy distribution (SED) ~200 days after explosion shows two distinct components, which we attribute to hot ejecta and warm dust.

By fitting models of dust emission to the SED, we derive a dust mass of (3.8_-0.3_^+0.5^)x10^-3^M_{sun}_, which is the highest yet observed in a Type IIb SN but consistent with other Type II SNe observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope. We also find that the radius of the dust is significantly larger than the radius of the ejecta, as derived from spectroscopic velocities during the photospheric phase, which implies that we are seeing an infrared echo off of preexisting dust in the progenitor environment, rather than dust newly formed by the SN.