NH3 in IRC +10216.
Abstract
Ammonia has been detected in the circumstellar envelope of IRC +10216 by means of three infrared absorption lines in the nu-2 band around 950 kaysers. The profiles are well resolved at a resolution of 0.22 km/s and show that most of the circumstellar gas is accelerated to expansion velocities around 14 km/s within a few stellar radii. The observed ammonia requires a rotational temperature between 400 and 700 K, an H2 density between 100 million and 10 billion per cu cm, and an NH3 column density of 10 to the 17th per sq cm. The H2 density indicates that the mass of the circumstellar envelope within a 1 arcsec radius is about 0.1 solar mass.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- April 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1086/182937
- Bibcode:
- 1979ApJ...229L..97B
- Keywords:
-
- Ammonia;
- Carbon Stars;
- Infrared Astronomy;
- Stellar Envelopes;
- Absorption Spectroscopy;
- Gas Density;
- Hydrogen;
- Interstellar Gas;
- Molecular Rotation;
- Astrophysics;
- Ammonia:Circumstellar Shells;
- Carbon Stars:Circumstellar Shells;
- Circumstellar Shells:Infrared Spectra;
- Circumstellar Shells:Masses;
- Circumstellar Shells:Velocities