Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2006-09-11
Astron.J.132:2717-2728,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Accepted for publication in AJ. 31 pages including: 6 Figures and 5 Tables
Scientific paper
10.1086/508933
During the past decade Eta Car has brightened markedly, possibly indicating a change of state. Here we summarize photometry gathered by the Hubble Space Telescope as part of the HST Treasury Project on this object. Our data include STIS/CCD acquisition images, ACS/HRC images in four filters, and synthetic photometry in flux-calibrated STIS spectra. The HST's spatial resolution allows us to examine the central star separate from the bright circumstellar ejecta. Its apparent brightness continued to increase briskly during 2002--06, especially after the mid-2003 spectroscopic event. If this trend continues, the central star will soon become brighter than its ejecta, quite different from the state that existed only a few years ago. One precedent may be the rapid change observed in 1938--1953. We conjecture that the star's mass-loss rate has been decreasing throughout the past century.
Davidson Kris
Koppelman David M.
Martin John C.
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