Abstract
TWO classes of models are current for η Carinae, a “star” which is perhaps the most luminous (∼1040 erg s−1) known within our Galaxy. According to one model this object is a very massive star, which ejected a fraction of a solar mass in a major outburst observed during the mid-nineteenth century1,2. The ejecta became visually opaque as dust grains formed, reradiating the absorbed stellar radiation in the infrared. The visual emission-line spectrum is then supposed to come from photoionized gas within the dust shell. The other type of model proposes, instead, a very massive and therefore slow supernova remnant at present receiving energy from a central pulsar; in this case much of the observed infrared radiation is non-thermal3.
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DAVIDSON, K., OSTRIKER, J. Remarks about X-rays from Eta Carinae. Nature Physical Science 236, 46–48 (1972). https://doi.org/10.1038/physci236046a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/physci236046a0
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