New Insights from the Historical Record of η Carinae

Details New Insights from the Historical Record of η Carinae New Insights from the Historical Record of η Carinae

Sep 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005aspc..332..158f&link_type=abstract

The Fate of the Most Massive Stars, ASP Conference Series, Vol. 332, Proceedings of the conference held 23-28 May, 2004 in Grand

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

4

Scientific paper

A new light-curve for η Carinae is presented, based on critically-assessed primary sources dating back to the 17th century (Figure ref{lightcurve}). Prior to the Great Eruption, evidence for large-scale brightness fluctuations is weak. Instead, a slow secular brightening from 1596 to ˜1820 is suggested. In agreement with previous work, the Great Eruption began in 1838, and lasted until at least 1856, at which time a rapid decline commenced. A possible brightening occurred in 1870, which may be related to a spectrum event in early 1871. The Lesser Eruption (1887-95) is a plateau of relatively constant brightness. The Homunculus brightened prior to 1940, primarily due to an increase in surface brightness of the lobes. The 1952-97 secular increase can be modelled by the Homunculus expanding at approximately constant surface brightness.
A quick analysis of 25 astrographic plates covering the Lesser Eruption provides evidence for a change in color at this epoch. The integrated color index, mpg-mv≃ 1.3 during the eruption is consistent with an F-supergiant photosphere reddened by E(bv) = 1.0. A decrease to mpg-mv≃ 0.6 after the eruption ended, was likely due to unresolved emission knots in the core becoming a significant contributor to the integrated brightness. A full account and bibliography will be published elsewhere.

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