High resolution spectral survey of symbiotic stars in the near-IR over the GAIA wavelength range

High resolution (R~20,000), high signal-to-noise (S/N~100) spectra were collected for ~40 symbiotic stars with the Asiago echelle spectrograph over the same 8480-8740 Ang wavelength range covered by the ESA Cornerstone mission GAIA, centered on the near-IR CaII triplet and the head of the Paschen series. A large number (~140) of cool MKK giant and supergiant templates were observed with the same instrumentation to serve as a reference and classification grid. The spectra offer bright prospects in classifying and addressing the nature of the cool component of symbiotic stars (deriving T(eff), log g, [Fe/H], [alpha/Fe], V(rot)sin i both via MDM-like methods and syntetic atmosphere modeling) and mapping the physical condition and kinematics of the gas regions responsible for the emission lines.