Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
Jul 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001hst..prop.9083d&link_type=abstract
HST Proposal ID #9083
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
Hst Proposal Id #9083 Hot Stars
Scientific paper
The very massive, unstable, persistently enigmatic star Eta Carinae has implications for several branches of astrophysics. Despite a series of remarkable discoveries in previous HST data, the nature of the central object remains elusive. Fortunately, recent developments offer, for the first time, an approach that can settle a number of long-standing questions which have been obstacles to understanding this unique object. A 5.5-year spectroscopic and X-ray cycle is now well established. STIS provides the most promising and very likely the only way to test whether Eta Car is a 5.5-year binary system. If it is, STIS gives by far the best constraints on the companion star, orbit, etc., needed to assess mechanisms for past outbursts and ejecta. If binary models don't work, then the 5.5-yr effect is probably a thermal cycle which gives novel information about the star's structure. In addition to the periodicity, the unprecedented brightening found with STIS in 1999 has continued at a diminished rate and merits followup observations. We sense that these recently discovered effects offer a likely breakthrough if Eta Car can be observed repeatedly with STIS through the current 5.5-year period, 1998.0--2003.5. During HST Cycle 10 the pace is expected to increase as this object enters the phase preceding its next major ``event.''
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