2012CBET.3287....1R

R. J. Rudy, E. A. Laag, K. B. Crawford, and R. W. Russell, Aerospace Corporation; R. C. Puetter, University of California at San Diego; and R. B. Perry, Langley Research Center, NASA, report on 0.47- to 2.5-micron spectroscopy of the possible nova in Aql reported on CBET 3273, using the 3-m Shane reflector of Lick Observatory and the Aerospace Corporation's VNIRIS spectrograph on the nights of Oct. 27 and 28 UT. The object is a nova of the Fe II type but is extremely heavily reddened. In addition to Fe II and H I, the object displays a very strong Ca II infrared triplet along with strong lines of C I, N I, and O I. He I lines are weak but present. The O I lines suggest a reddening of E(B-V) around 2.5, implying more than seven magnitudes of visual extinction. This large value is consistent with the steeply rising optical continuum. The hydrogen lines have FWMH between 900 and 1000 km/s. P-Cyg components are seen on some of the H I, C I, N I, and O I lines and extend out to 900 km/s from line center. Carbon monoxide emission is present, indicating that molecule formation is ongoing, with dust formation likely to follow. Magnitudes derived from the spectroscopy for Oct. 28.05 are: V(Bessell) = 14.1, R(Bessell) = 12.0, J = 7.5, H = 6.5, K-short = 5.9.