A Sea Change in Eta Carinae
Walborn, Nolan R.; Humphreys, Roberta M.; Davidson, Kris; Mehner, Andrea; Martin, John C.; Ishibashi, Kazunori; Ferland, Gary J.
United States, Japan
Abstract
Major stellar-wind emission features in the spectrum of η Car have recently decreased by factors of order 2 relative to the continuum. This is unprecedented in the modern observational record. The simplest, but unproven, explanation is a rapid decrease in the wind density.