Interstellar beryllium.

A new search for interstellar Be has been conducted which takes advantage of the high ultraviolet transparency of Mauna Kea and the photometrically accurate Reticon detector and supercoated (UV) optics of the Canada-France-Hawaii 3.6-m telescope. Spectra were obtained at 1.6 Å mm^-1 of four early B stars on each of two nights and combined for each star to give signal-to-noise ratios of 65 to 300. The two stars with the highest quality data, ζ Per and δ Sco, yield upper limits on the Be II resonance line λ3130 of 0.23 mÅ and 0.36 mÅ, respectively, smaller than any previously reported limits. The corresponding Be/H abundances are ≤4.8×10^-12 and ≤8.4×10^-12 or [Be/H] = -0.43 and -0.22, respectively, with solar-stellar Be/H = 1.3×10^-11.