English

The 2003 Shell Event in eta Carinae

Astrophysics 2009-11-10 v1

Abstract

Near-infrared, JHKL, photometry of eta Car is reported covering the period 2000 to 2004. This includes the 2003 shell event which was the subject of an international multi-wavelength campaign. The fading that accompanied this event was similar to, although slightly deeper than, that which accompanied the previous one. The period between these events is 2023+/-3 days and they are strictly periodic. Their cause, as well as that of the quasi-periodic variations and secular brightening are discussed. It seems possible that all three types of variability are consequences of the binary nature of the star.

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0404513,
  title  = {The 2003 Shell Event in eta Carinae},
  author = {Patricia A. Whitelock and Michael W. Feast and Freddy Marang and Elme Breedt},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0404513},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

11 pages, 5 figures, to appear in MNRAS

R2 v1 2026-07-22T08:37:30.935Z