Extraction of two components from the IRS 44 spectra. The main plot shows the extracted counts versus wavelength for IRS 44 E (red) and IRS 44 W (blue) over a small wavelength range. The two insets show the spatial profile of the counts in the cross-dispersion direction for a single pixel (left, within the CO P(21) line, right within the continuum). Two Gaussian profiles were fit to the cross-dispersed emission profile and were subtracted to minimize contamination between components during the extraction. CO emission is detected from the secondary, IRS 44 W (blue) but not from the primary, IRS 44 E (red). The excised region is unreliable because of strong telluric CO absorption.