Abstract Absorption profiles of He 2 molecular bands blue-shifted to the corresponding atomic resonance lines are reported. The absorption profiles are obtained from fluorescence excitation spectra of dense He gas. The strongest band is assigned to the transitions X 1 Σ g + —D 1 Σ u + and F 1 Π u . The characteristic line shape allows the determination of the height of the barriers in the potential curves. The height of the barriers shows a simple dependence on the main quantum number which is discussed from the viewpoint of two limiting cases.