HST images of Eta Carinae

Summary

Introduction

Eta Carinae is a hot, massive, very luminous star which has erupted with episodes of greatly enhanced mass loss several times during the past few centuries. It is surrounded by an expanding shell of material, commonly known as the Homunculus, which was ejected during an outburst between 1830 – 1860. Fainter condensations are visible at greater distances. Their composition and radial proper motions suggest clumps of ejecta, some of which are contemporaries of the Homunculus, while others may have been expelled during earlier outbursts. Eta Carinae represents a dramatic although possibly brief phase of the interaction between a massive star in an advanced stage of evolution and its environment.

The spatial and temporal characteristics of the nebulosity make it an attractive target for observations with the Hubble Space Telescope. The smallest structures currently known have sizes between 1/10 to 1/4 arc second, beyond the reach of ground based instruments, but well matched to the resolution of HST. Proper motions are typically 0.05 to 0.1 arc seconds per year. Displacements of several pixels per year will be seen with HST. Over the planned 15 year HST mission the kinematics of the expanding debris should be clearly revealed.