4 Conclusions

Near-IR photometry of nova V723 Cas undertaken during seventeen months after outburst reveals that its emission was a combination of pseudophotospheric and free-free emission. No evidence of dust formation is seen up to this stage. Episodic mass ejections in the post-outburst period resulted in sharp brightness increases or flares, which were observed in the near-IR also. The nova lies between 2.4 - 7.6 kpc and has an absolute magnitude of $-6 \pm 1$.

Acknowledgements

Research work at PRL is supported by funds from Dept. of Space, Govt. of India. The authors would like to thank Watson P.V and Anandmayee Tej for help with the observations. We also thank Osamu Ohshima and VSNET observers for communicating the optical observations. Suggestions by Drs. T. Naylor and U. Munari helped to improve the paper.