MOLECULES IN {eta} CARINAE

Journal Article · Tue Apr 10 04:00:00 EDT 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/749/1/L4· OSTI ID:22047927

Loinard, Laurent; Menten, Karl M; Guesten, Rolf ^[1]; Zapata, Luis A; Rodriguez, Luis F ^[2]

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1. Max-Planck Institut fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, 53121 Bonn (Germany)
2. Centro de Radioastronomia y Astrofisica, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Apartado Postal 3-72, 58090 Morelia, Michoacan (Mexico)

We report the detection toward {eta} Carinae of six new molecules, CO, CN, HCO{sup +}, HCN, HNC, and N{sub 2}H{sup +}, and of two of their less abundant isotopic counterparts, {sup 13}CO and H{sup 13}CN. The line profiles are moderately broad ({approx}100 km s{sup -1}), indicating that the emission originates in the dense, possibly clumpy, central arcsecond of the Homunculus Nebula. Contrary to previous claims, CO and HCO{sup +} do not appear to be underabundant in {eta} Carinae. On the other hand, molecules containing nitrogen or the {sup 13}C isotope of carbon are overabundant by about one order of magnitude. This demonstrates that, together with the dust responsible for the dimming of {eta} Carinae following the Great Eruption, the molecules detected here must have formed in situ out of CNO-processed stellar material.

• OSTI ID: 22047927
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 749; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
ASTRONOMY
ASTROPHYSICS
CARBON
CARBON 13
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON NITRIDES
CNO CYCLE
COSMIC DUST
DETECTION
ELEMENT ABUNDANCE
HYDROCYANIC ACID
MOLECULES
NEBULAE
NITROGEN
STARS