Related papers: Comparing Eta Carinae with the Red Rectangle
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…
The image of planetary nebulae (PN), supernova remnant (SNR) and Eta-Carinae is made by three different physical processes. The first process is the expansion of the shell that can be modeled by the canonical laws of motion in the spherical…
We present optical spectra of the ionized `Outer Ejecta' of Eta Carinae that reveal differences in chemical composition at various positions. In particular, young condensations just outside the dusty Homunculus Nebula show strong nitrogen…
We present a three-dimensional (3-D) dynamical model for the broad [Fe III] emission observed in Eta Carinae using the Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS). This model is based on full 3-D Smoothed Particle…
During the past decade several observational and theoretical works provided evidences of the binary nature of Eta Carinae. Nevertheless, there is still no direct determination of the orbital parameters, and the different current models give…
The periodicity of 5.5 years for some observational events occurring in Eta Carinae manifests itself across a large wavelength range and has been associated with its binary nature. These events are supposed to occur when the binary…
The Homunculus reflection nebula around eta Carinae provides a rare opportunity to observe the spectrum of a star from multiple latitudes. We present STIS spectra of several positions in the Homunculus, showing directly that eta Car has an…
We show that the rapid and large decrease in the intensity of high-ionization emission lines from the Eta Carinae massive binary system can be explained by the accretion model. These emission lines are emitted by material in the nebula…
We present X-ray spectral fits to a recently obtained Chandra grating spectrum of Eta Carinae, one of the most massive and powerful stars in the Galaxy and which is strongly suspected to be a colliding wind binary system. Hydrodynamic…
We propose that the decline in the near-IR flux from the massive binary system Eta Carinae during the spectroscopic event might be explained by accreted mass that absorbs the radiation from the secondary star, and by that reduces the…
We continue to explore the accretion model of the massive binary system eta Carinae by studying the anomalously high He II 4686 line. The line appears just before periastron and disappears immediately thereafter. Based on the He II 4686…
The Red Rectangle is a nebula surrounding the post-AGB star HD 44179. It is the prototype of a particular class of nebulae associated with post-AGB binaries characterised by the presence of stable circumbinary disks in (quasi-)Keplerian…
The nebula around eta Carinae consists of two distinct parts: the Homunculus and the outer ejecta. The outer ejecta are mainly a collection of numerous filaments, shaped irregularly and distributed over an area of 1arcminx1arcmin. While the…
Aims. The structural inhomogeneities and kinematics of massive star nebulae are tracers of their mass-loss history. We conduct a three-dimensional morpho-kinematic analysis of the ejecta of eta Car outside its famous Homunculus nebula.…
Context: The bright star eta Carinae is the most massive and luminous star in our region of the Milky Way. Though it has been extensively studied using many different techniques, its physical nature and the mechanism that led to the…
The X-ray emission of $\eta$ Carinae shows multiple features at various spatial and temporal scales. The central constant emission (CCE) component is centred on the binary and arises from spatial scales much smaller than the bipolar…
During the years 1838-1858, the very massive star {\eta} Carinae became the prototype supernova impostor: it released nearly as much light as a supernova explosion and shed an impressive amount of mass, but survived as a star.1 Based on a…
The stellar binary $\eta$ Carinae has been observed during its full orbital period in gamma rays by the Fermi-Large Area Telescope (LAT). The shock-accelerated electrons in the colliding winds of the two stars radiate synchrotron photons in…
Asymmetric shapes and evidence for binary central stars suggest a common-envelope origin for many bipolar planetary nebulae. The bipolar components of the nebulae are observed to expand faster than the rest and the more slowly expanding…
Red novae are transients powered by collisions of non-compact stars. Among their progenitors are systems of evolved subgiants and giants stars. Remnants of such red novae display bipolar structures which have remarkably close…