Abstract
The Red Rectangle1 is a nebula centred on the star HD44179. Within an amorphous blue nebula is embedded a hollow biconical red nebula with apex at the star. The generators of the hollow bicone show in projection as four spikes radiating from HD44179. The bicone has a hitherto totally unidentified spectrum. In high resolution spectra of the nebula we have identified a narrow-line component (Na D, Ca H and K, Hα) from a low excitation plasma and we have resolved broader features presumably from molecular bands. Here we give constraints on the molecules responsible, and propose as a candidate carbyne (linear chains of carbon with alternate single and triple bonds). The Red Rectangle may thus be a factory for the production of the raw material from which some interstellar molecules are made.
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Warren-Smith, R., Scarrott, S. & Murdin, P. Peculiar optical spectrum of the Red Rectangle. Nature 292, 317–319 (1981). https://doi.org/10.1038/292317a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/292317a0
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