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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 25 May 2016
In the past 10 years, 6 classical novae have been observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We have begun a study of these objects using ultraviolet spectra obtained by IUE and optical spectra from nova surveys. We are using the results of this study to further our understanding of novae and stellar evolution.
Our study includes analysis of both the early, optically thick spectra using model atmospheres (Hauschildt et al. 1992), and the later nebular spectra using optimization of photoionization codes (Ferland 1996; James & Roos 1993). By analysing all the LMC novae in a consistent manner, we can compare their individual results and use their combined properties to calibrate Galactic novae. In addition, our studies can be used to determine the elemental abundances of the nova ejecta, the amount of mass ejected, and the contribution of novae to the ISM abundances. To date we have analysed Nova LMC 1988#1 (Schwarz et al. 1998) and Nova LMC 1990#1 (Vanlandingham et al. 1999), and have obtained preliminary results for Nova LMC 1991. The results of this work are presented in this poster.