2002/09/30 by Maurice A. Leutenegger, Steven M. Kahn, S. M. Kahn +1 · 2 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/346183
published as Astrophys.J. 585 (2003) 1015-1023 · 20 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ
arxiv created 2002/11/26 · openalex publication_date 2003/03/10 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We present XMM-Newton observations of the luminous star η Carinae, including a high-resolution soft X-ray spectrum of the surrounding nebula obtained with the Reflection Grating Spectrometer (RGS). The European Photon Imaging Camera (EPIC) image of the field around η Car shows many early-type stars and diffuse emission from hot, shocked gas. The EPIC spectrum of the star is similar to that observed in previous X-ray observations and requires two temperature components. The RGS spectrum of the surrounding nebula shows K-shell emission lines from hydrogen- and helium-like nitrogen and neon and L-shell lines from iron but little or no emission from oxygen. The observed emission lines are not consistent with a single temperature, but the range of temperatures observed is not large, spanning ~0.15-0.6 keV. We obtain upper limits for oxygen line emission and derive a lower limit of N/O > 9. This is consistent with previous abundance determinations for the ejecta of η Car and with theoretical models for the evolution of massive, rotating stars.