2007IAUC.8809....1R

R. J. Rudy, D. K. Lynch, and R. W. Russell, The Aerospace Corporation; C. E. Woodward, University of Minnesota; and J. Liebert and M. Cushing, University of Arizona, report 0.8- to 5- micron spectroscopy of V1280 Sco from Feb. 14 and 16 UT, during the nova's rise to maximum (Feb. 17.75 UT), using the SPEX instrument on the 3-m reflector of the Infrared Telescope Facility: "The spectrum was dominated by the absorption lines of hydrogen, and there was a pronounced jump due to the Paschen discontinuity. Emission lines were almost entirely absent, with Paschen-beta and Brackett-alpha just beginning to exhibit hints of emission and P-Cyg behavior. There were also numerous absorptions due to low- lying but non-resonant transitions of neutral nitrogen and carbon. The infrared continuum, with the exception of the Paschen and Brackett discontinuities, was well matched by a 5300-K blackbody. Between the two dates, the H I absorption lines' equivalent widths decreased in strength by about a factor of two."