2007IAUC.8883....1L

D. K. Lynch, R. W. Russell, and R. J. Rudy, The Aerospace Corporation; and C. E. Woodward, University of Minnesota, report 0.8- to 5.5-micron spectroscopy of V458 Vul (cf. IAUC 8863, 8878) on Oct. 10 and 11 UT using the Infrared Telescope Facility (+ SpeX): "V458 Vul has the strongest lines of neutral helium that we have encountered in a nova. He I 1083.0-nm has an equivalent width of > 1400 nm and is 30 times larger than Paschen-beta. Similarly, He I 2058.1-nm is seven times as strong as Brackett-gamma. Numerous other lines of He I are present. The lines of both helium and hydrogen are flat-topped and have FWHM of 2700 km/s. The O I lines are still present and indicate a reddening of E(B-V) = 0.6. He II features are just beginning to emerge, so the He I features will likely weaken slightly in the future as more helium becomes doubly ionized. No thermal emission from dust was detected."