Note that these three orbits encompass identical grating settings and mappings as in program 12508. This is on purpose as we are attempting to follow changes both in X-rays and optical forbidden emission lines that provide important clues to the periodic and long-term variations of the interacting winds, most notably the primary wind. A change request will be submitted to take care of this overlap and for the CVZ resource. ----- Attempting Submission 1 (Fri Sep 02 16:13:00 GMT 2011) ----- Eta Car is the nearest highly unstable extremely massive star and a key object for understanding how a star heads towards hypernova. Periodic minima in X-rays show it as an extremely eccentric binary with a massive companion. A surprising change in the X-ray emission during the January 2009 X-ray minimum might indicate a large-scale variation in the LBV primary’s mass loss rate. We propose to obtain an HETGS observation of the system during AO13, at beginning of the X-ray increase which proceeds the minimum. We also request STIS mapping along with the HETGS observations to constrain the 3-D shape of the wind-wind interaction regions on scales of 1--1700AU from the star so as to test variable mass loss models.

These observations are planned to observe the extended winds of Eta Carinae at critical times to test current and developing 3D hydrodynamic models that eventually will incorporate radiative transfer. Each visit will map over a 2.1"X2.1" region centered on Eta Carinae that encompasses the extended winds as seen in forbidden emission lines of high and low ionization species (> and <13.6 eV) including Fe++, Ar++, N+, Fe+ and Ni+. CVZ is requested to obtain complete mappings in each of these lines using one G430M grating setting (4706A) and two G750M grating settings (7354 abd 5734). The mapping is accomplished with a 52"X0.1" aperture at arbitrary position angles, sampled at 0.05" spacing. The observations under this program will occur in the Fall of 2012 (orbital phase~0.7) in close coordination with CHANDRA observations. Similar observations, through HST program 12508, are scheduled in Fall, 2011 and summer 2013 that are complimentary to these observations. Given known variability with phase and the potential long term variability of the primary wind, closely scheduled (within two months) are required. Indeed the STIS observations associated with this proposal will greatly enhance our knowledge about variability of the wind structure just past apastron and long term changes of the primary wind. Two CVZ opportunities are within the planning window of October through December for CHANDRA. 12 false 0.0 0.0 false false false false AVAILABLE STAR ETA CARINAE STAR This object was generated by the targetselector and retrieved from the SIMBAD database. J2000 J2000 STIS/FUV-MAMA Spectroscopic No No POS-TARG MOSAIC DITHER 0.05 This shorter pattern is to gain information on the star position which has very bright continuum. STIS-ALONG-SLIT false true 7 0.0 POS-TARG STIS-PERP-TO-SLIT 90.0 1 false POS-TARG MOSAIC DITHER .05 STIS-ALONG-SLIT false true 41 0.0 POS-TARG STIS-PERP-TO-SLIT 90.0 2 false 1314908553139 The scheduling data was generated by CASM 19.3. CASM was run in Phase II mode. /Volumes/Apps_and_Docs/tgull/Documents/EtaCar/HST-Cycles19-21/OP-cache/CHANDRA-HST20110901-v01.xml 3700 Schedule around phase 12.7 Oct - Dec, 2012 (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 12750 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20110509" :date "01-Sep-2011 16:22:16.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 3 :saa-model "24" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 727872 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 12750 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :cvz T :proposal-id 12750 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 333 :si-vis-utilization 16465 :al-overhead-at-end 75 :internal-dur-at-end 371 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 0 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 0 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 3 0 Peak=9290 e-, Total=15480 e-, S/N=123 two [Fe III] and one [Fe II] line within this grating coverage. Placed in earth occultation Submapping on bright stellar positions. Mapping [N II] 5755 WAVECAL inserted in earth occultation or after exposure 7-7 completed Bright stellar core mapping Bright stellar core mapping