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R.C. Iping, G. Sonneborn (NASA/GSFC), D. L. Massa (Raytheon ITSS), J.B. Hutchings (NRC Canada), T.R. Gull (NASA/GSFC)
We present the first high spectral resolution observations of the Luminous Blue Variable eta Carinae between the Lyman limit and 1180 Å. High resolution spectra (R~20,000) were obtained with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) satellite on Feb. 1 and Mar. 20, 2000. The observations were made with a 30x30 arcsec aperture and includes the entire Homunculus region. However, the spatial extent of the far UV flux is consistent with a point source. With the limited spatial resolution of the FUSE instrument, we can only constrain the far UV emission to be within ± 5 arcsec of the star. The far UV spectrum of eta Car is dominated by strong absorption features of molecular hydrogen. The observed flux level at 1150 Åis ~4 \times 10-12 erg cm-2 sec-1 Å-1 and decreases approximately linearly to ~920 Åwhere converging H I and H2 features completely blanket the spectrum. These observations were obtained as part of the FUSE Early Release Observation program. This work was supported in part by NASA Contract NAS5-32985.