No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 August 2015
This high luminosity (5 × 106 L⊙) star since 1840 is losing mass at the rate of 7.5 × 10−2 M⊙ per year. The large mass loss could be the result of vibrational instabilities produced in the CNO hydrogen burning phase of a very massive (160 M⊙) star. The presence of high excitation lines in the ultraviolet spectrum of Eta Car suggests the idea of a hot zone excited by dissipation of the supersonic turbulent flow.