The Eta Carinae Homunculus in Full 3D with X-shooter and Shape
Abstract
Massive stars like Eta Carinae are extremely rare in comparison to stars such as the Sun, and currently we know of only a handful of stars with masses of more than 100 Msun in the Milky Way. Such massive stars were much more frequent in the early history of the Universe and had a huge impact on its evolution. Even among this elite club, η Car is outstanding, in particular because of its giant eruption around 1840 that produced the beautiful bipolar nebula now known as the Homunculus. In this study, we used detailed spatio-kinematic information obtained from X-shooter spectra to reconstruct the 3D structure of the Homunculus. The small-scale features suggest that the central massive binary played a significant role in shaping the Homunculus.
- Publication:
-
The Messenger
- Pub Date:
- December 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014Msngr.158...26S