Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-xm8r8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-22T00:23:15.999Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

In hot pursuit of the hidden companion of η Carinae: an X-ray determination of the wind parameters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 May 2016

Julian M. Pittard
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Leeds, Woodhouse Lane, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Michael F. Corcoran
Affiliation:
Universities Space Research Association, 7501 Forbes Blvd, Ste 206, Seabrook, MD 20706, USA, and Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

We perform X-ray spectral fits to a recently obtained Chandra grating spectrum of η Carinae, one of the most massive and powerful stars in the Galaxy and which is strongly suspected to be a colliding wind binary system. The good fit that we obtain gives us further confidence in the binary hypothesis, and we find M ≈ 2.5 × 10–4 M yr–1 for the mass loss rate of η Car.

Type
Part 1. Atmospheres of Massive Stars
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2003 

References

Corcoran, M.F., Fredericks, A.C., Petre, R., et al. 2000, ApJ 545, 420.Google Scholar
Damineli, A. 1996, ApJ (Letters) 460, L49.Google Scholar
Davidson, K., Ishibashi, K., Gull, T.R., et al. 2000, ApJ (Letters) 530, L107.Google Scholar
Duncan, R.A., White, S.M., Lim, J., et al. 1995, ApJ (Letters) 441, L73.Google Scholar
Duncan, R.A., White, S.M., Reynolds, J.E., Lim, J. 1999, in: Morse, J.A., Humphreys, R.M. & Damineli, A. (eds.), Eta Carinae at The Millennium, ASP-CS 179, 54.Google Scholar
Hillier, D.J., Davidson, K., Ishibashi, K., Gull, T.R. 2001, ApJ 553, 837.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lamers, H., Livio, M., Panagia, N., Walborn, N.R. 1998, ApJ (Letters) 505, L131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pittard, J.M., Corcoran, M.F. 2002, A&A 383, 636.Google Scholar