A blast wave from the 1843 eruption of η Carinae

Nathan Smith ()
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Nathan Smith: University of California, 601 Campbell Hall, Berkeley, California 94720-3411, USA

Nature, 2008, vol. 455, issue 7210, 201-203

Abstract: Eta Carinae: a blast wave from the past Eta Carinae (η Car), a star that was seen to erupt violently in 1843, is the prototype luminous blue variable (LBV), a type of object formed when very massive stars shed much of their mass en route to their probable destruction in a supernova explosion. The cause of LBV eruptions is unknown. Nathan Smith now reports the observation of extremely fast nuclear-processed material around η Car, faster than any previously seen. This fast material roughly doubles the kinetic energy of the nineteenth-century event, and suggests that the initial explosion released a blast wave now propagating ahead of the massive ejecta. As a result, η Car's outer shell now mimics a low-energy supernova remnant.

Date: 2008
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DOI: 10.1038/nature07269

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