[IAUC] CBET 3103: 20120508 : NOVA OPHIUCHI 2012

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                                                  Electronic Telegram No. 3103
Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams
INTERNATIONAL ASTRONOMICAL UNION
CBAT Director:  Daniel W. E. Green; Hoffman Lab 209; Harvard University;
 20 Oxford St.; Cambridge, MA  02138; U.S.A.
e-mail:  cbatiau en eps.harvard.edu (alternate cbat en iau.org)
URL http://www.cbat.eps.harvard.edu/index.html
Prepared using the Tamkin Foundation Computer Network


NOVA OPHIUCHI 2012
     R. J. Rudy and R. W. Russell, Aerospace Corporation; M. L. Sitko,
University of Cincinnati; C. M. Lisse, Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns
Hopkins University; J. Rayner and W. Golisch, Infrared Telescope Facility
(IRTF); and C. Chen, Space Telescope Science Institute, report on 0.8- to
5.2-micron spectroscopy of N Oph 2012 (cf. CBETs 3072, 3081) acquired on May 1
and 2 UT using the Spex instrument on the IRTF.  The nova exhibits
carbon-monoxide emission from the fundamental and the first and second
overtones.  The peak of the emission from the first overtone is approximately
seven times that of the underlying continuum -- which is, to the authors'
knowledge, the highest value observed in a nova.  The CO fundamental is much
weaker than the first overtone, indicating that the emission is optically
thick in the fundamental.  Atomic emission lines are present from neutral
carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen, and He I emission is weak but present.  The
Ca II infrared triplet is extremely strong.  Dust formation has not yet
occurred but will almost certainly take place in the near future.


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                         (C) Copyright 2012 CBAT
2012 May 8                       (CBET 3103)              Daniel W. E. Green