U.S.-Australia Cooperative Research: Monitoring the Radio Outburst of Eta Carinae

该奖项为期三年，将资助马里兰大学天文系斯蒂芬·怀特博士与澳大利亚国家望远镜设施（at）的罗伯特·邓肯博士进行合作研究。这项研究将集中研究南半球船底座埃塔的无线电发射。怀特博士目前正在通过美国国家科学基金会（NSF）对活跃恒星的射电连续观测奖进行研究。这项资助将为他目前的研究增加一个国际层面。船底二星被认为是银河系中已知质量最大的恒星之一，它的无线电图像只能通过位于Mpora的25米AT天线获得。对这颗恒星的观测揭示了它异乎寻常的射电辐射，使它成为天空中最亮的射电恒星之一。当恒星周围的气体明显地被从恒星向外传播的扰动电离时，无线电通量继续上升。调查的目的是跟踪爆发的演变并确定其性质，研究电离气体以确定恒星喷出气体的运动学和流出物中不同不对称现象的原因，并通过观察新电离气体的重新结合来确定流出物的物理条件。

9513340 White This award, covering a period of three years, will support the travel of Dr. Stephen White, Department of Astronomy at the University of Maryland, to conduct collaborative research with Dr. Robert Duncan of the Australian Telescope National Facility (AT). The research will focus on a study of the radio emission from the Southern Hemisphere star Eta Carinae. Dr. White is currently conducting research through an NSF award on radio continuum observations of active stars. This grant will add an international dimension to his current research. Radio images of Eta Carinae, thought to be among the most massive known stars in our Galaxy, can only be obtained through the 25m AT dish located at Mpora. Observations of this star have revealed extraordinary radio emissions which have made it one of the brightest radio stars in the sky. The radio flux continues to rise as gas surrounding the star apparently is being ionized by a disturbance propagating outward from the star. The goal of the investigation is to follow the evolution of the outburst and determine its nature, to study the ionized gas in order to determine the kinematics of gas ejected from the star and the cause of the different asymmetries seen in the outflow, and to determine the physical conditions in the outflow by observing the newly-ionized gas recombining.