  We present Roche tomograms of the secondary star in the dwarf nova system RU
Pegasi derived from blue and red arm ISIS data taken on the 4.2-m William
Herschel Telescope. We have applied the entropy landscape technique to
determine the system parameters and obtained component masses of M1 = 1.06
Msun, M2 = 0.96 Msun, an orbital inclination angle of i = 43 degrees, and an
optimal systemic velocity of gamma = 7 km/s. These are in good agreement with
previously published values. Our Roche tomograms of the secondary star show
prominent irradiation of the inner Lagrangian point due to illumination by the
disc and/or bright spot, which may have been enhanced as RU Peg was in outburst
at the time of our observations.We find that this irradiation pattern is
axi-symmetric and confined to regions of the star which have a direct view of
the accretion regions. This is in contrast to previous attempts to map RU Peg
which suggested that the irradiation pattern was non-symmetric and extended
beyond the terminator. We also detect additional inhomogeneities in the surface
distribution of stellar atomic absorption that we ascribe to the presence of a
large star-spot. This spot is centred at a latitude of about 82 degrees and
covers approximately 4 per cent of the total surface area of the secondary. In
keeping with the high latitude spots mapped on the cataclysmic variables AE Aqr
and BV Cen, the spot on RU Peg also appears slightly shifted towards the
trailing hemisphere of the star. Finally, we speculate that early mapping
attempts which indicated non-symmetric irradiation patterns which extended
beyond the terminator of CV donors could possibly be explained by a
superposition of symmetric heating and a large spot.
