Sharp Lines in the Spectrum of Nova

FernalcTs discovery of the recent outburst of Nova RS Ophiuchi on July 14.1, 1958 (UT) was telephoned to the Mount Wilson Observatory from Berkeley by Dr. Leland E. Cunningham. The star reached maximum at about magnitude 5.0 later that night. It has since been reported that Peltier had observed the star at magnitude 11.1 on the previous night. I was the observer on the 60-inch telescope on the night that the call was received, and immediately commenced spectroscopic observations. The longest camera on the Cassegrain spectrograph was used in the photographic and visual regions, giving dispersions of 20 Â/mm and 30 Â/mm respectively. For observations in the infrared it was necessary to work at 60 Â/mm. Plates were taken at the 60-inch on six of the first eight nights, after which the 100and 200-inch telescopes were employed. I am very grateful to Drs. J. L. Greenstein, A. J. Deutsch, and J. B. Oke for loaning me their plates for this discussion. Parts of the blue and violet regions of the spectrum are illustrated in Plate I. Superimposed upon the very broad emission and possible absorption features are numerous sharp lines. It is