3-12.5 MU-M SPECTROSCOPY OF V705-CASSIOPEIAE (NOVA CASSIOPEIAE-1993)

Infrared spectroscopy of the moderately fast nova V705 Cassiopeiae (No va Cassiopeiae 1993) between 3 and 13 mu m approximately 367 days afte r visual maximum revealed a strong infrared excess dominated by two th ermal-like continua and three emission features at 3.38+/-0.05, 4.6+/- 0.05, and 11.27+/-0.07 mu m. Their full width at one half maximum abov e the local continuum were 0.22, 0.30, and 0.36 mu m, respectively. No emission from the central star was detected. We tentatively identify the 4.6 mu m feature as being the fundamental vibrational lines of CO. The 3.4 mu m feature is almost certainly due to the C-H stretching mo de in organic molecules, while the 11.3 mu m is still somewhat of a my stery, although SiC cannot be ruled out. From our analysis we find tha t the absolute visual magnitude at maximum M(v)(max) was near -7, the extinction was about 2.8 mag, and the distance was 1250+/-290 pc. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.