3-12.5 mu m spectroscopy of V705 Cassiopeiae (Nova Cassiopeiae 1993)

Infrared spectroscopy of the moderately fast nova V705 Cassiopeiae (Nova Cassiopeiae 1993) between 3 and 13 mu m approximately 367 days after visual maximum revealed a strong infrared excess dominated by two thermal-like continua and three emission features at 3.38+/-0.05, 4.6+/-0.05, and 11.27+/-0.07 mu m. Their full width at one half maximum above the local continuum were 0.22, 0.30, and 0.36 mu m, respectively. No emission from the central star was detected. We tentatively identify the 4.6 mu m feature as being the fundamental vibrational lines of CO. The 3.4 mu m feature is almost certainly due to the C-H stretching mode in organic molecules, while the 11.3 mu m is still somewhat of a mystery, although SiC cannot be ruled out. From our analysis we find that the absolute visual magnitude at maximum M(v)(max) was near -7, the extinction was about 2.8 mag, and the distance was 1250+/-290 pc. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.