Characteristics and interpretation of the photometric variability of eta Carinae and its nebula
The peculiar variable object Eta Car is characterized in a review of observational data (from the 17th century on) and theoretical investigations, with a focus on observations obtained with the Walraven simultaneous VBLUW photometer on the 90-cm light collector, first (1974-1978) at Leiden Southern...
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Published in | Space science reviews Vol. 39; no. 3-4; pp. 317 - 373 |
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Main Authors | , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Dordrecht
Springer
01.09.1984
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Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | The peculiar variable object Eta Car is characterized in a review of observational data (from the 17th century on) and theoretical investigations, with a focus on observations obtained with the Walraven simultaneous VBLUW photometer on the 90-cm light collector, first (1974-1978) at Leiden Southern Station, South Africa, and then (1979-1983) at ESO. The data are presented in tables and graphs and discussed in detail. Findings reported include foreground reddening E(B-V)J = 0.50 mag, homunculus-dust reddening less than 0.6 mag, bolometric magnitude -12.3 + or - 0.2 mag, star radius 96 solar radii (for Teff = 30,000 K), star mass 150 solar mass, mass-loss rate 0.0001 solar mass/yr, and homunculus mass 0.15 solar mass. The 9-mag decrease in light since the maximum in 1843 is attributed to a 2.5-mag decrease in luminosity excess, a 3-mag drop in S Dor effects (probably present since the 17th century), and a 3.5-mag extinction by circumstellar dust, while the recent small-amplitude changes are the result of central-star temperature variations. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0038-6308 1572-9672 |
DOI: | 10.1007/BF00173903 |