We report results of spectroscopic observations of V382 Vel ( Nova Vel 1999 ) carried out at La Silla between 5 and 498 days after maximum light ( 23 May 1999 , V ( max ) \sim 2.3 \pm 0.1 ) .
The analysis of the photometric and spectroscopic evolution shows this object to be a fast nova belonging to the Fe II broad spectroscopic class .
A distance of 1.7 kpc ( \pm 20 \% ) is derived from the maximum magnitude vs. rate of decline relationship after correcting for the small reddening toward the nova , E ( B–V ) { \lower 2.0 pt \hbox { $ { < \atop \hbox { \raise 4.0 pt \hbox { $ \sim$ } } } $ } } 0.10 .
From the measured H \alpha flux and the associated rate of expansion we derive an approximate mass for the ejected shell , M _ { env } { \lower 2.0 pt \hbox { $ { < \atop \hbox { \raise 4.0 pt \hbox { $ \sim$ } } } $ } } 10 ^ { -5 } M _ { \odot } .
We have also observed during the early decline a broad , short-lived ( { \lower 2.0 pt \hbox { $ { < \atop \hbox { \raise 4.0 pt \hbox { $ \sim$ } } } $ } } 10 days ) feature at 6705-6715 Å for which several identifications are possible , one of which is the lithium doublet at 6708 Å and which could place an empirical limit on the lithium production that might occur during the outburst of a fast nova .
The high luminosity at maximum , M _ { v } = -8.9 , and the relatively small height above the galactic plane ( z { \lower 2.0 pt \hbox { $ { < \atop \hbox { \raise 4.0 pt \hbox { $ \sim$ } } } $ } } 160 pc ) suggest that V382 Vel originated from a massive white dwarf , likely in the mass range 1.1–1.2 M _ { \odot } .