Post‐Outburst Infrared Spectra of V1647 Ori, the Illuminating Star of McNeil’s Nebula

V1647 Ori is a low-mass star in the L1630 star-forming region that underwent an outburst in late 2003 and early 2004. We present postoutburst infrared spectra obtained with NIRSPEC (Keck II) and SpeX (IRTF) and compare these to spectra taken during the outburst. The results show that the temperature of the hot CO formed in the inner part of the disk has declined by ~800 K, while the water and CO ice and low-J CO gas features remained unchanged, consistent with previous assertions that the latter, low-temperature features arise in the foreground cloud. The P Cygni profiles of the Paschen series that were present in the outburst spectra taken in 2004 March disappeared by late 2004. The equivalent width of the helium absorption line at 1.0830 μm decreased from 8.9 to 3.9 A between 2004 March and November, evidence that the hot, fast wind has decreased substantially. We discuss the implications for categorizing V1647 Ori among the known classes of outbursting young stars.