The Absorption Spectrum of the η Car Ejecta

Details The Absorption Spectrum of the η Car Ejecta The Absorption Spectrum of the η Car Ejecta

Sep 2005

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005aspc..332..162n&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

Scientific paper

The ultraviolet spectrum of η Car and the very nearby ejecta is dominated by complex wind profiles of the extended atmosphere. Increasingly from the STIS NUV to FUV, absorption features from the ejecta and the interstellar medium are superimposed. The absorption from the foreground ejecta display a velocity dispersion between -650 > v > -100 km s-1, with two easily separated components at -146 and -513 km s-1. These two velocities components have earlier been determined to be formed at very different distances from the central source (Gull et al. 2004), and seem to be linked to Little Homunculus and the Homunculus, respectively.The -146 and -513 km s-1 components show different ionization structures. While the -146 km s-1 component shows a spectrum from almost exclusively singly ionized iron group elements, the fast -513 km s-1 has a lower excitation temperature and consequently shows lines from both neutral and singly ionized species. H2 has a huge impact on the spectrum between 1200 to 1650 Å{} and can for some regions completely describe the ejecta spectrum. The ejecta vary in absorption throughout the spectroscopic period. The -146 km s-1 component strengthens when the minimum approaches. The fast component is not significantly affected across the minimum, however, the molecular lines show a dramatic decrease in intensity likely caused by the drop of FUV radiation reaching the -513 km s-1 ejecta.
In this spectral range interstellar features such as S II, C II, C IV, Si II and Si IV have a significant impact on the spectrum. We used an earlier study by Walborn et al. (2002) to estimate the ISM's influence on the η Car spectrum. Many of the interstellar lines show a large velocity dispersion (-388 to +127 km s-1).
Within 0.1 arcsec of the central source, STIS resolves spatial features at the 0.25 arcsec scale. A number of strong emission lines are observable in the spectrum and associable with the Weigelt blobs B and C. During the minimum when the FUV and X-radiation drop, virtually all of these lines vanish.
This work is based upon observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, under NASA contract NAS 5 - 26555.

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