High-resolution optical spectroscopy of the post-AGB supergiant V340 Ser (=IRAS 17279$-$1119)

Some evidences of wind variability and velocity stratification in the extended atmosphere has been found in the spectra of the supergiant V340 Ser (=IRAS 17279$-$1119) taken at the 6-m BTA telescope with a spectral resolution R$\ge$60000. The H$\alpha$ line has a P Cyg profile whose absorption component (V=+34 km/s) is formed in the upper layers of the expanding atmosphere close to the circumstellar environment. For four dates the mean velocity has been derived from the positions of 300-550 symmetric metal absorptions with an accuracy better than $\pm0.1$ km/s: Vr=59.30, 60.09, 58.46, and 55.78 km/s. A lot of low-excitation metal lines have an inverse P Cyg profile. The mean positions of their emission components, Vr=46.3$\pm$0.4 km/s, differ systematically from the velocity inferred from symmetric absorptions, suggesting the presence of a velocity gradient in the supergiant extended atmosphere. The multicomponent profile of the NaI D-lines contains the interstellar, Vr=-11.2 km/s, and circumstellar, Vr=+10 km/s, components and the component forming in the upper atmospheric layers, Vr=+34.0 km/s. The mean velocity from 20-30 diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) identified in the spectra, Vr(DIBs)=-11.6$\pm0.2$ km/s, agrees with the velocity from interstellar NaI and KI components. The equivalent width of the oxygen triplet W(7774)=1.25 A corresponds to an absolute magnitude of the star Mv$\approx-4.6^m$, which, taking into account the total (interstellar+circumstellar) extinction, leads to a distance to the star d$\approx$2.3 kpc.