Related papers: A disrupted circumstellar torus inside eta Carinae…
Homunculus Nebula is surrounding the star system Eta Carinae. The nebula is embedded within a much larger ionized hydrogen region, which is the Carina Nebula. Homunculus is believed to have been ejected in a huge outburst from Eta Carinae…
We investigate, using the modeling code SHAPE, the three-dimensional structure of the bipolar Homunculus nebula surrounding Eta Carinae, as mapped by new ESO VLT/X-Shooter observations of the H2 $\lambda=2.12125$ micron emission line. Our…
Near-infrared adaptive optics imaging with NICI and NaCO reveal what appears to be a three-winged or lobed pattern, the "butterfly nebula", outlined by bright Br$\gamma$ and H$_{2}$ emission and light scattered by dust. In contrast, the [Fe…
The evolved massive binary star Eta Carinae underwent eruptive mass loss events that formed the complex bi-polar Homunculus nebula harboring tens of solar masses of unusually nitrogen-rich gas and dust. Despite expectations for the presence…
The asymmetric shape of the nebula around $\eta$-Carinae (Homunculus) can be explained by a spherical expansion in a non-homogeneous medium. Two models are analyzed: an exponential and an inverse power law dependence for the density as a…
We report the discovery of a double ring structure in the waist of the nebula surrounding eta Carinae. The rings are detected in the mid-IR dust continuum at wavelengths of 7.9, 11.9, 12.9 and 20 micronmeter. The dust in the rings has a…
We present Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of $^{12}$CO2$-$1 emission from circumstellar material around the massive star $\eta$~Carinae. These observations reveal new structural details about the cool equatorial torus…
I compare the structures of the bipolar nebulae around the massive binary system Eta Carinae and around the low mass binary system HD 44179. While Eta Carinae is on its way to become a supernova, the Red Rectangle is on its way to form a…
$\eta$ Carinae is an extraordinary massive star famous for its 19th century Great Eruption and the surrounding Homunculus nebula ejected in that event. The cause of this eruption has been the centre of a long-standing mystery. Recent…
The luminous unstable star (star system) eta Carinae is surrounded by an optically bright bipolar nebula, the Homunculus and a fainter but much larger nebula, the so-called outer ejecta. As images from the EINSTEIN and ROSAT satellites have…
High resolution near-infrared adaptive optics imaging and polarimetry have been obtained of the Homunculus Nebula and its central star Eta Carinae (HD 93308). Maps of the linear polarization at a resolution of <0.2'' have been made in the…
The ``Homunculus'' nebula around Eta Carinae is one of our most valuable tools for understanding the extreme nature of episodic pre-supernova mass loss in the most massive stars, perhaps even more valuable than the historical light curve of…
The outer ejecta is part of the nebula around Eta Carinae. They are filamentary, shaped irregularly and larger than the Homunculus, the central bipolar nebula. While the Homuculus is mainly a reflection nebula, the outer ejecta is an…
I examine the angular momentum evolution during the 1837-1856 Great Eruption of the massive star Eta Carinae. I find that the new estimate of the mass blown during that eruption implies that the envelope of Eta Car substantially spun-down…
Previous STIS long-slit observations of Eta Carinae identified numerous absorption features in both the stellar spectrum, and in the adjacent nebular spectra, along our line-of-sight. The absorption features became temporarily stronger when…
Near-infrared emission lines provide unique diagnostics of the geometry, structure, kinematics, and excitation of eta Carinae's circumstellar ejecta, and give clues to the nature of its wind. The infrared spectrum is a strong function of…
Asymmetric variability in ultraviolet images of the Homunculus obtained with the Advanced Camera for Surveys/High Resolution Camera on the Hubble Space Telescope suggests that Eta Carinae is indeed a binary system. Images obtained before,…
Infrared observations of the dusty, massive Homunculus Nebula around the luminous blue variable $\eta$ Carinae are crucial to characterize the mass-loss history and help constrain the mechanisms leading to the Great Eruption. We present the…
High resolution long-slit spectra obtained with the Phoenix spectrograph on Gemini South provide our most accurate probe of the three dimensional structure of the Homunculus around eta Car. The new near-infrared spectra dramatically confirm…
I address uncertainties on the spatial distribution and mass of the dust formed in $\eta$ Carinae's Homunculus nebula with data being combined from several space- and ground-based facilities spanning near-infrared to sub-mm wavelengths, in…