| Popis: |
The spatially-resolved winds of the massive binary, Eta Carinae, extend an arcsecond on the sky, well beyond the 10 to 20 milliarcsecond binary orbital dimension. Stellar wind line profiles, observed at very different angular resolutions of VLTI/AMBER, HST/STIS and VLT/UVES, provide spatial information on the extended wind interaction structure as it changes with orbital phase. These same wind lines, observable in the starlight scattered off the foreground lobe of the dusty Homunculus, provide time-variant line profiles viewed from significantly different angles. Comparisons of direct and scattered wind profiles observed in the same epoch and at different orbital phases provide insight on the extended wind structure and promise the potential for three-dimensional imaging of the outer wind structures. Massive, long-lasting clumps, including the nebularWeigelt blobs, originated during the two historical ejection events. Wind interactions with these clumps are quite noticeable in spatially-resolved spectroscopy. As the 2009.0 minimum approaches, analysis of existing spectra and 3-D modeling are providing bases for key observations to gain further understanding of this complex massive binary. |
