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M. J. Richter (UC Davis), J. H. Lacy, D. T. Jaffe, M. A. Bitner (UT Austin), T. K. Greathouse (LPI Houston), G. A. Blake (Caltech)
We used TEXES, the Texas Echelon-cross-Echelle Spectrograph (Lacy et al. 2002), on the 3m NASA IRTF to search for mid-infrared rotational H2 emission from 18 young stellar objects. TEXES is a high spectral resolution, mid-infrared spectrograph in use on the 3m IRTF since 2000 and scheduled to become available as a visitor instrument on Gemini-North in 2006B. We concentrated on the J=3-1 (17.03 micron) and J=4-2 (12.28 micron) lines, spending roughly one hour of time for each line on each source. The high spectral resolution of TEXES gives R~60,000 for J=3-1 and R~80,000 for J=4-2. In certain cases, we also observed the J=6-4 (8.025 micron) feature. Roughly a third of the sources show either clear or potential detections. For the best cases, we have velocity-resolved information regarding the line flux at three separate transitions and can investigate the physical conditions of the emitting gas. Ratios of these mid-infrared lines are sensitive to gas with temperatures between roughly 200 and 800 K. Even non-detections can establish limits to the amount of warm, isolated H2 in the system.
Observations with TEXES are supported by NSF grant AST-0205518. MJR is supported by NASA award NNG04GG92G and NSF award AST-0307497.
Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.