Results of observations of the nova Cas 1993 with the 6-m and Zeiss-10
00 telescopes within a few days after maximum light are reported. Duri
ng the spectroscopic observations, the nova was in a diffuse-enhanced
phase. The spectrum shows a large number of emission and absorption fe
atures. The absorption lines have a two-component structure and are bl
ueshifted. The mean radial velocities of the primary and diffuse-enhan
ced spectra are RV(1) = -550 ion s(-1) and RV(2) = -1330 km s(-1), res
pectively. The linear polarization in the B band is 1.25%. The absolut
e magnitudes at maximum light were estimated from our photometry to be
M(B) = -6.(m)8 and M(V) = -6.(m)77. The distance to the nova was foun
d by several methods to lie in the range 0.9 to 1.4 kpc.