HIGH-RESOLUTION SPECTROSCOPY OF COOL K-STARS AND M-STARS THROUGH THE TELLURIC WATER-VAPOR ABSORPTION-BAND NEAR 9360-ANGSTROM .1. METHODOLOGY AND 1ST RESULTS

An observational program has been undertaken for the study of stellar spectra within telluric water vapor lines absorption region near 9360 angstrom. This program has been developed in the future context of a E uropean Space Agency's environment-dedicated experiment designed to pr obe atmospheric water vapor absorption with cool star spectrophotometr y. With ground observations presented here, we determine absorption le vels and line elements at very high resolution (110 000) for a bright star, beta Geminorum. Research for stellar lines is based on wavelengt h calibration, Doppler correction and radial velocity. To deconvolve t he stellar spectrum from the intense telluric atmospheric absorption i n the near-infrared region (9310-9480 angstrom) two observations at si x months interval help improve line visibility and identification. Nev er the near-infrared spectrum of known cool stars have been observed a t such high spectral resolution in this spectral range. CN and some me tallic lines are identified. We suggest the presence of some stellar H 2O lines but further identification is clearly needed.