Title: The gas disk of beta Pictoris

Authors: R. Liseau, A. Brandeker, G. Olofsson, M. Fridlund

Abstract: The first results of spatially resolved spectroscopic 
observations of the disk around beta Pictoris are presented. These
observations were performed with UVES at the 8m VLT at ESO, Chile,
during several runs in 2001/2002.

Seeing conditions were always 0.6 arcseconds or better and the
seeing-matched slit had a length of 8 to 12 arcsec in individual
observations. The observed spectral range is 0.3 to 1 micron.

The highlights of these observations include (1) the large number
of detected disk lines, (2) the large radial extent of the disk gas
(to the limit of the observations) and (3) the large scale height
of the disk gas at large distances from the star (i.e. the degree
of flaring).