A Sea Change in Eta Carinae


Andrea Mehner(1), Kris Davidson(1), Roberta M. Humphreys(1), John C.Martin(2), Gary J. Ferland(3) and Nolan R. Walborn(4)

Affiliation1 - University of Minnesota
Affiliation2 - University of Illinois-Springfield
Affiliation3 - University of Kentucky
Affiliation4 - STScI

Most stellar-wind emission features in the spectrum of eta Car have recently decreased by factors of order 2 relative to the continuum.
This is unprecedented in the modern observational record.The simplest, but unproven, explanation is a rapid decrease in the wind density.

Reference: Astrophysical Journal Letters
Status: Manuscript has been accepted

Weblink: http://arxiv.org/abs/1004.3529

Comments:

Email: roberta@umn.edu