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Register a new userThe first full orbit of Eta Carinae seen by Fermi
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The binary system eta Carinae has completed its first 5.54y orbit since the beginning of science operation of the Fermi Large Area Telescope (LAT). We are now able to investigate the high-energy gamma-ray source at the position of eta Carinae over its full orbital period. By this, we can address and confirm earlier predictions for temporal and spectral variability. New
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Multiwavelength observations are essential to constrain physical parameters of the blazars observed by Fermi/LAT. Among the 187 AGN significantly detected in public INTEGRAL data above 20 keV by the imager IBIS/ISGRI, 20 blazars were detected. 15 of these sources allowed significant spectral extraction. They show hard X-ray spectra with an average photon index of 2.1+-0.1 and a hard X-ray luminosity of L(20-100 keV) = 1.3e46 erg/s. 15 of the INTEGRAL blazars are also visible in the first 16 months of the Fermi/LAT data, thus allowing to constrain the inverse Compton branch in these cases. Among others, we analyse the LAT data of four blazars which were not included in the Fermi LAT Bright AGN Sample based on the first 3 months of the mission: QSO B0836+710, H 1426+428, RX J1924.8-2914, and PKS 2149-306. Especially for blazars during bright outbursts, as already observed simultaneously by INTEGRAL and Fermi (e.g. 3C 454.3 and Mrk 421), INTEGRAL provides unique spectral coverage up to several hundred keV. We present the spectral analysis of INTEGRAL and Fermi data and demonstrate the potential of INTEGRAL observations of Fermi detected blazars in outburst by analysing the combined data set of the persistent radio galaxy Cen A.
The Large Area Telescope (LAT) onboard the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope detected a gamma-ray source that is spatially consistent with the location of Eta Carinae. This source has been persistently bright since the beginning of the LAT survey observations (from 2008 August to 2009 July, the time interval considered here). The gamma-ray signal is detected significantly throughout the LAT energy band (i.e., up to ~100 GeV). The 0.1-100 GeV energy spectrum is well represented by a combination of a cutoff power-law model (< 10 GeV) and a hard power-law component (> 10 GeV). The total flux (> 100 MeV) is $3.7^{+0.3}_{-0.1} times 10^{-7}$ photons s$^{-1}$ cm$^{-2}$, with additional systematic uncertainties of 10%, and consistent with the average flux measured by AGILE (Tavani et al. 2009). The light curve obtained by Fermi is consistent with steady emission. Our observations do not confirm the presence of a gamma-ray flare in 2008 October as reported by Tavani et al. (2009), although we cannot exclude that a flare lasting only a few hours escaped detection by the Fermi LAT. We also do not find any evidence for gamma-ray variability that correlates with the large X-ray variability of Eta Carinae observed during 2008 December and 2009 January. We are thus not able to establish an unambiguous identification of the LAT source with Eta Carinae.
We present the results of extensive observations by the gamma-ray AGILE satellite of the Galactic region hosting the Carina nebula and the remarkable colliding wind binary Eta Carinae (Eta Car) during the period 2007 July to 2009 January. We detect a gamma-ray source (1AGL J1043-5931) consistent with the position of Eta Car. If 1AGL J1043-5931 is associated with the Eta Car system our data provide the long sought first detection above 100 MeV of a colliding wind binary. The average gamma-ray flux above 100 MeV and integrated over the pre-periastron period 2007 July to 2008 October is F = (37 +/- 5) x 10-8 ph cm-2 s-1 corresponding to an average gamma-ray luminosity of L = 3.4 x 10^34 erg s-1 for a distance of 2.3 kpc. We also report a 2-day gamma-ray flaring episode of 1AGL J1043-5931 on 2008 Oct. 11-13 possibly related to a transient acceleration and radiation episode of the strongly variable shock in the system.
We present Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observations of $^{12}$CO2$-$1 emission from circumstellar material around the massive star $eta$~Carinae. These observations reveal new structural details about the cool equatorial torus located $sim$4000 au from the star. The CO torus is not a complete azimuthal loop, but rather, is missing its near side, which appears to have been cleared away. The missing material matches the direction of apastron in the eccentric binary system, making it likely that $eta$~Cars companion played an important role in disrupting portions of the torus soon after ejection. Molecular gas seen in ALMA data aligns well with the cool dust around $eta$~Car previously observed in mid-infrared (IR) maps, whereas hot dust resides at the inner surface of the molecular torus. The CO also coincides with the spatial and velocity structure of near-IR H$_2$ emission. Together, these suggest that the CO torus seen by ALMA is actually the pinched waist of the Homunculus polar lobes, which glows brightly because it is close to the star and warmer than the poles. The near side of the torus appears to be a blowout, associated with fragmented equatorial ejecta. We discuss implications for the origin of various features northwest of the star. CO emission from the main torus implies a total gas mass in the range of 0.2-1 $M_{odot}$ (possibly up to 5 $M_{odot}$ or more, although with questionable assumptions). Deeper observations are needed to constrain CO emission from the cool polar lobes.
During the years 1838-1858, the very massive star {eta} Carinae became the prototype supernova impostor: it released nearly as much light as a supernova explosion and shed an impressive amount of mass, but survived as a star.1 Based on a light-echo spectrum of that event, Rest et al.2 conclude that a new physical mechanism is required to explain it, because the gas outflow appears cooler than theoretical expectations. Here we note that (1) theory predicted a substantially lower temperature than they quoted, and (2) their inferred observational value is quite uncertain. Therefore, analyses so far do not reveal any significant contradiction between the observed spectrum and most previous discussions of the Great Eruption and its physics.
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