MessageToEagle.com - Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in our Milky Way galaxy, is known to
have periods of dimness followed by periods of brightness.
It unexpectedly increased in brightness in the 19th century and for ten years in the mid-1800s it was the
second-brightest star in the sky.
The increase in luminosity was so great that it earned the rare title of Great Eruption. New research from
a team including Carnegie's Jose Prieto, now at Princeton University, has used a "light echo" technique to demonstrate
that this eruption was much different than previously thought.
It was an extreme and unique event in which the star, which is more than 100 times the mass of the
Sun, lost several times the mass of the Sun. Scientists have believed that this rare type of eruption was caused
by a stellar wind.
Eta Carinae emitting ultraviolet laser beams. An artist's impression. Credits: NASA
The variations in brightness of an LBV are caused by increased instability and loss of mass.
The team of scientists, led by Armin Rest of the Space Telescope Science Institute, used images of Eta Carinae
over 8 years to study light echoes of the Great Eruption. For the first time, they observed light from the
eruption that bounced, or echoed, off interstellar dust tens of light years from the star.
Those extra tens of light years mean that the light is reaching Earth now rather than in the 1800s when
people on Earth observed the light that traveled here directly.
Eta Carinae is the most luminous star known in our galaxy. It radiates energy at a rate that is 5 million times that of the Sun. Observations indicate that Eta Carinae is an unstable star that is rapidly boiling matter off its surface. Some astronomers think that it could
explode as a supernova any time! At a distance of 7,000 light years from Earth, this gigantic explosion
would pose no threat to life but it would be quite a show. Credits: NASA/CXC/SAO
They then used the Magellan and du Pont telescopes at Las Campanas Observatories, in Chile, to obtain spectra of
the echoes of light. The spectra allow them to precisely separate the light into its constituents, much like a
drop of rain naturally acts as a prism and separates sunlight into the colors of the rainbow.
These observations give
important information about the chemical composition, temperature, and velocity of the material ejected during the 19th century Great Eruption.
Most surprisingly, their observations show that the Great Eruption is different from so-called "supernova impostor,"
events in nearby galaxies that are thought to be eruptions from LBVs. For example, the Great Eruption was significantly
cooler than allowed by simple stellar-wind models used to explain supernova impostors.
"This star's Giant Eruption has been considered a prototype for all supernova imposters in external galaxies," Prieto said.
"But this research indicates that it is actually a rather unique event."
Thus, scientists still don't know what phenomenon caused Eta Carinae to erupt and lose such a quantity of
mass without being destroyed. Further research is necessary to determine whether other proposed models could
have triggered this activity instead.
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MessageToEagle.com - Eta Carinae, one of the most massive stars in our Milky Way galaxy, is known to
have periods of dimness followed by periods of brightness.
It unexpectedly increased in brightness in the 19th century and for ten years in the mid-1800s it was the
second-brightest star in the sky.
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This alien intruder from another galaxy is in many ways different from other exoplanets observed by astronomers.
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Chandra focus on X-rays from high-energy regions of the Universe and see the invisible.
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Every time you look at the beautiful and famous image of the Pillars of Creation taken by Hubble back in 1995,
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