Open AccessCan ε Carinae be a triple system?
Author(s) -
Livio Mario,
Pringle J. E.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.1998.01567.x
Subject(s) - physics , triple system , astronomy , astrophysics , geometry , mathematics
We examine the possibility that ε Carinae is a triple system. We show that a stable hierarchical system is possible, although perhaps only marginally. We outline a speculative scenario for the history of the system, in which the giant outburst of the last century is associated with an interchange of components in a dynamically unstable triple system. We point out that the currently observed spectroscopic ‘event’ could be used to distinguish among the different possible configurations of the system.