SIMBAD references

D. K. Lynch, R. J. Rudy, S. Mazuk, and C. C. Venturini, Aerospace Corporation; R. C. Puetter, University of California at San Diego; R. B. Perry, Langley Research Center, NASA; and B. Walp, Lick Observatory, report 0.47- to 2.5-micron spectroscopy of V838 Mon (cf. IAUC 7785, 7812, 8221) using the Lick 3.0-m telescope (+ VNIRIS) on Nov. 13.42 UT. The object continues to develop spectrally and to fade. Since 2004 there has been a dramatic weakening, and in some cases disappearance, of the TiO and VO absorption bands, probably due to thinning of the line-of-sight density as the shell expands. The AlO bands also weakened, though only slightly. There were also a large number of molecular absorption bands in the visible. Approximate magnitudes for V838 Mon: V = 15.7, J = 7.8, H = 6.6, K = 5.8.