Nova LMC 1990 no. 2: The first extragalactic recurrent nova

International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) observations of Nova LMC (Large Magellanic Cloud) 1990 number 2 are presented. It is the first recurrent nova to be observed outside the Galaxy. Earlier optical outburst of the nova was observed in 1968, when it reached a maximum of about V = 10.2. The first observations caught the nova at UV maximum, and IUE spectra were obtained between 16 Feb. and 26 Mar. 1990, with 8 hour resolution during the first day of observations. No P Cyg profiles developed on the resonance lines, suggesting that very little mass was ejected and that the outburst was not spherical. The integrated UV luminosity was then 3.4 x 10(exp 38) erg/s which is above the Eddington limit for a one solar mass white dwarf (assuming E (B - V) = 0.15 and a distance of 55 kpc to the LMC). This is the first time that the luminosity of a recurrent nova has been directly obtained.