Collaborative Research: Using Spectroscopy of Light Echoes to Observe the 19th Century Great Eruption of Eta Carinae

合作研究：利用光回波光谱观测 19 世纪海山二号大喷发

• 批准号: 1311993
• 负责人: Desmond Hillier
• 金额: $ 4.86万
• 依托单位: University of Pittsburgh
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-09-01 至 2018-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311993&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Collaborative; Research; Using; Spectroscopy; Light

This program will perform a detailed spectroscopic study of the 19th century Great Eruption of the famous eruptive massive star Eta Carinae, by targeting light echoes discovered 160 years after the outburst occurred. Eta Carinae is the prototype for a class of non-terminal eruptions that dominate mass loss in massive stars and have been linked to violent pre-supernova ejections that yield the most luminous supernovae in the universe. Our empirical information about its eruption has been limited to historical accounts of its visual brightness, since the astronomical spectrograph had not yet been invented when the eruption occurred. However, our recent discovery of light echoes from Eta Carinae provides a unique opportunity to get a second look with modern instruments, because light from the 19th century eruption bounced off nearby dust clouds in the surrounding star-forming region, reaching us now. By observing the multiple light echoes we have discovered, we will produce a detailed spectral time-sequence of the 20-yr long 19th century eruption of Eta Carinae, including brief brightening events, quiescent times before and between peaks, and long-duration bright phases. Understanding the 3D effects in Eta Carinae will help us model extragalactic events where we lack any spatially resolved information about geometry. We will directly test and refine theories for the eruption that involve non-terminal explosions and dense continuum-driven winds above the Eddington limit. This study is also quite timely: It will inform a rapidly-growing interest in eruptive transient sources fueled by current transient surveys and anticipation of LSST, it will provide important clues to the eruptions from very massive stars that precede the most luminous supernovae known (in advance of JWST's efforts to detect them at high redshift), and it will provide direct tests of some very recently proposed models for the eruption of Eta Carinae itself.There are several aspects to the broad scientific impact of this program. It will provide unique and timely information about a famous massive star and its historical event that is a benchmark for understanding transient phenomena in the universe, eruptions and explosions associated with non-terminal transient events, and their role in the lives and deaths of stars. Aided by professional graphics and animations generated with the help of the STScI public outreach department, we will also produce a series of YouTube videos of team members explaining key aspects of the project for a non-specialist audience. Concerning traditionally underrepresented groups in astronomy, through participation in the NSF-funded CAMPARE exchange program between Arizona and Cal-Poly Pomona, we will recruit minority undergraduates to be directly engaged in the research, and the Arizona graduate student intended to be funded by this grant is female.

该程序将对19世纪著名的爆发大型巨星Eta Carinae进行详细的光谱研究，以瞄准发生在爆发后160年后发现的光回声。 Eta Carinae是一类非末端喷发的原型，这些末端喷发占主导地位的巨大恒星质量损失，并且与剧烈的苏植物前弹出率有关，这些弹出产生了宇宙中最发光的超新星。我们有关其喷发的经验信息仅限于其视觉亮度的历史记载，因为在喷发发生时尚未发明天文光谱仪。但是，我们最近发现的来自Eta Carinae的光回声提供了一个独特的机会，可以与现代乐器进行第二次观察，因为19世纪的喷发的光线在周围恒星形成区域的附近尘埃云中弹起，现在到达了我们。通过观察我们发现的多个光的回声，我们将产生Eta Carinae长期19世纪长时间喷发的详细光谱时间序列，包括短暂的亮点事件，峰之前和之间的静止时间以及长期呈现的明亮阶段。了解ETA Carinae中的3D效应将有助于我们对我们缺乏有关几何形状的任何空间解决信息进行建模。我们将直接测试和完善涉及非末端爆炸和高于爱丁顿限制的密集连续驱动风的喷发理论。这项研究也很及时：它将为对爆发性短暂源的快速增长兴趣，这是由于当前的瞬态调查和对LSST的预期所吸引的，它将为来自非常发光的超新星的爆发提供重要的线索（在JWST在JWST上努力在高速度上探索的努力之前，它都会在高速度上探讨一些模型，并提供了一些迫切的模型），并提供了一些模型）本身。这是该计划广泛科学影响的几个方面。它将提供有关著名大型恒星及其历史事件的独特和及时信息，这是理解宇宙中短暂现象，与非末端短暂事件相关的爆发和爆炸的基准，以及它们在星星的生命和死亡中的作用。在STSCI公共外展部门的帮助下，在专业图形和动画的帮助下，我们还将制作一系列YouTube视频，以为非专业观众解释该项目的关键方面。关于传统上代表性不足的天文学群体，通过参加亚利桑那州和加利福尼亚州的NSF资助的Campare Exchange计划，我们将招募少数族裔本科生直接从事研究，而亚利桑那州的研究生则打算由这笔赠款资助。