FUSE observations of H₂ around the Herbig AeBe stars HD 100546 and HD 163296

¹ Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, CNRS, 98 bis Bld. Arago, Paris, France
² Laboratoire d'Astrophysique de Marseille, Marseille, France
³ Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA
⁴ : Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC, USA
⁵ Meudon Observatory, Meudon, France

Corresponding author: A. Lecavelier des Etangs, lecaveli@iap.fr

Received: 5 March 2003
Accepted: 12 June 2003

Abstract

We present the analysis of FUSE observations of two Herbig AeBe stars known to harbor young circumstellar disks: HD 100546 and HD 163296. In both cases we detect absorption lines from warm and dense H₂. The thermalization of the rotational levels up to allows evaluation of the temperature, density and typical size of the absorbing layer. These quantities are consistent with absorption of the light of the central star by a thin layer of a circumstellar disk seen at an intermediate inclination.