THE SHELL OF QU-VULPECULAE AT 2.2 MICRONS, H-ALPHA, AND 3.6 CENTIMETERS

Observations of the classical nova QU Vul (1984) were carried out in t he infrared, optical, and radio regimes between days 3791 and 4262 aft er discovery. For the first time a spatial extension of the shell arou nd QU Vul could be unambiguously established from our IR and optical o bservations. At. 2.2 mu m, a shell size of about 0.'' 8 was found, whi ch corresponds to a linear diameter of (4.5 +/- 0.4) x 10(16) cm on da y 4124 assuming QU Vul is 3.6 kpc distant. The mass of the shell is (4 +/- 1.5) x 10(-4) M-. with the assumption that a free-free emission p rocess is the dominant emission mechanism in the shell. This shell mas s is larger than found for any nova.