Related papers: A Blast Wave from the 1843 Eruption of Eta Carinae

(abridged) We report our discovery and observations of the peculiar Type IIn supernova SN2006gy in NGC1260, revealing that it reached a peak magnitude of -22, making it the most luminous supernova ever recorded. It is not yet clear what…

Stellar explosions such as novae and supernovae produce most of the heavy elements in the Universe. Although the onset of novae from runaway thermonuclear fusion reactions on the surface of a white dwarf in a binary star system is…

Eta Carinae is considered to be a massive colliding wind binary system with a highly eccentric (e \sim 0.9), 5.54-yr orbit. However, the companion star continues to evade direct detection as the primary dwarfs its emission at most…

The late-stage evolution of the most massive stars such as {\eta} Carinae is controlled by the effects of mass loss, which may be dominated by poorly understood eruptive mass ejections. Understanding this population is challenging because…

The interacting binary Eta Carinae remains one of the most enigmatic massive stars in our Galaxy despite over four centuries of observations. In this work, its light curve from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared is analysed using…

Observations from the last decade have indicated the existence of a general class of superluminous supernovae (SLSNe), in which the peak luminosity exceeds 10^{44} erg/s. Here we focus on a subclass of these events, where the light curve is…

Luminous blue variables (LBVs) are rare objects of very high luminosity and mass loss rates, low wind velocities, exhibiting strong irregular photometric and spectral variability. They are generally believed to be a relatively short…

The X-ray emission from the super-massive star Eta Carinae is simulated using a three dimensional model of the wind-wind collision. In the model the intrinsic X-ray emission is spatially extended and energy dependent. Absorption due to the…

(Abridged) Stars more massive than $20-30M_{\odot}$ are so luminous that the radiation force on the cooler, more opaque outer layers can balance or exceed the force of gravity. These near or super-Eddington outer envelopes represent a long…

We report on our second-epoch VLBI and VLA observations of the Type Ib/c supernova 2001em, five years after the explosion. It was suggested that SN 2001em might be a jet-driven gamma ray burst (GRB), with the jet oriented near the plane of…

Observations of core-collapse supernovae suggest that some massive stars undergo intense mass loss shortly before explosion, but the underlying mechanisms remain unknown. Here we report evidence of giant outbursts of clumpy material from a…

Cosmic-ray acceleration has been a long-standing mystery and despite more than a century of study, we still do not have a complete census of acceleration mechanisms. The collision of strong stellar winds in massive binary systems creates…

I propose a scenario to account for the fast polar outflow detected to be blown by Eta Carinae in 2000. The scenario accounts also for the lack of this flow in 1998 and 1999. The scenario is based on the binary nature of Eta Carinae. The…

Luminous blue variable (LBV) stars are very massive, luminous, unstable stars that suffer frequent eruptions. In the last few years, these stars have been proposed as the direct progenitors of some core-collapse supernovae (SNe),…

We report the detection of broad absorptions due to Si IV 4088-4116 A in the Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) AG Carinae during its last hot phase (2001-2003). Our NLTE spectral analysis, with the radiative transfer code CMFGEN, revealed the…

In this contribution I summarize our current knowledge of the nature and significance of starburst-driven galactic winds (``superwinds''). Superwinds are complex multiphase outflows of cool, warm, and hot gas, dust, and magnetized…

Luminous Blue Variables have been suggested to be the direct progenitors of supernova types IIb and IIn, with enhanced mass loss prior to explosion. However, the mechanism of this mass loss is not yet known. Here, we investigate the…

Stars more massive than about 8 Msun end their lives as a Supernova (SN), an event of fundamental importance Universe-wide. Theoretically, these stars have been expected to be either at the red supergiant, blue supergiant, or Wolf-Rayet…

Early observations of supernovae (SNe) indicate that enhanced mass loss and pre-SN outbursts may occur in progenitors of many types of SNe. We investigate the role of energy transport via waves driven by vigorous convection during…

Variable A in M33 is a member of a rare class of highly luminous, evolved stars near the upper luminosity boundary that show sudden and dramatic shifts in apparent temperature due to the formation of optically thick winds in high mass loss…