IUE Observations of Interstellar Hydrogen and Deuterium toward Alpha Centauri B

Abstract

A high dispersion profile is presented of the Lyman-alpha emission toward Alpha Cen B as recorded in two images taken with the IUE spacecraft. The spectra were examined with a three-parameter Gaussian or five-parameter solar-type profile to derive the intrinsic background stellar emission. Voight absorption profiles were calculated for the intervening H I and D I gas. A uniform, thermally broadened medium was assumed, with the calculations being based on the free stellar parameters of density, velocity dispersion and the bulk velocity of H I, and the density of D I. The use of a small aperture is shown to have been effective in eliminating geocoronal and interplanetary diffuse Ly-alpha contamination. The H I absorption profile toward Alpha Cen B is found to be equivalent to that toward Alpha Cen A, indicating that the H I profiles derived are essentially independent of stellar emission. Less success, however, was attained in obtaining any definitive D I profile, although an asymmetry in the blue and red wings of the Lyman-alpha emissions did show the presence of absorption by interstellar deuterium and allow setting a lower limit of 0.00001 for the D I/H I ratio.