Hydrogen sulfide in a circumstellar envelope

A search for hydrogen sulfide in the cool circumstellar envelopes of 25 stars was made using the 1(10)-1(01) rotational line at 1.8 mm. It was detected in the bipolar nebula/OH maser OH231.8+4.2, an object having a high rate of mass loss. An approximate analysis indicates that 1/60 of the sulfur in this outflowing envelope is in the form of H2S, a fraction which may be similar to that in the atmosphere of the central star. In addition, the shape of the observed line profile is discussed in terms of a possible variation of the outflow velocity with latitude above the system's equatorial plane.