Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 May 2013
We present the results of the analysis of our recent interferometric observations ofBetelgeuse, using the AMBER instrument of the VLTI. Using the medium spectral resolutionmode (R ~ 1500) we detected the presence of the water vapour andcarbon monoxide (CO) molecules in the H and K bands. We also derived the photosphericangular diameter in the continuum. By analysing the depth of the molecular lines and theinterferometric visibilities, we derived the column densities of the molecules, as well asthe temperature and the size of the corresponding regions in the atmosphere of Betelgeuse(the MOLsphere) using a single shell model around the photosphere. Our results confirm thefindings by Perrin et al. (2004)and Ohnaka et al. (2011) that theH2O and CO molecules are distributed around Betelgeuse in a MOLsphereextending to approximately 1.3 times the star’s photospheric radius.