1996/01/22 by H. Falcke, Heino Falcke, Kris Davidson +8
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Star Formation Studies #Bipolar outflow #Circular polarization #Degree of polarization #Galaxy #Nebula #Optics #Photometry (optics) #Physics #Polarimeter #Polarimetry #Polarization (electrochemistry) #Position angle #Scattering #Speckle pattern #Star formation #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9601119
Astron. & Astrophys. Letters, in press, LaTex (laa.sty), 4 pages, 5 PS-figures, also available at http://www.astro.umd.edu/~hfalcke/publications.html or by request
arxiv created 1996/01/22 · openalex publication_date 1996/01/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2022/10/03 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
With our new speckle imaging polarimeter we have obtained first polarimetric\nimages with sub-arcsecond resolution of the Luminous Blue Variable eta Carinae\nin the Halpha line. The polarization patterns at the 3'' scale match well\nearlier conventional imaging photometry and can be interpreted as Mie\nscattering. In centered long-exposure images we detected in polarized light a\nbar in the NE part of the equatorial plane of eta Carinae. High-resolution\n0.11'' polarimetric speckle reconstructions reveal a compact structure\nelongated in the same direction which is consistent, in degree and position\nangle of the polarisation, with the presence of a circumstellar, equatorial\ndisk. The degree of polarization of the previously discovered speckle objects\nand the Halpha arm is relatively low (~10%) and thus may indicate a position\nwithin the equatorial plane. We also discovered a highly polarized (20%-40%)\nbipolar structure along the major axis of the Homunculus nebula which can be\ntraced down to the sub-arcsecond scale. This is probably the inner part of a\nbipolar outflow into the Homunculus.\n