Sequencing of STIS Observations

With a coordinated campaign like the Eta Carinae Treasury Project it is sometimes hard to figure out when observations were made relative to events recorded by other groups looking at different things. This page is meant to help alleviate some of the confusion.

Actual Schedule of STIS Observations

A detailed schedule of past and future observations included in the Treasury Project observing campaign is available from the Space Telescope Science institute.That data can be accessed here.

Relative to the X-Ray Curve

Mike Corcoran at NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center has coordinated long-term monitoring of the X-ray flux from Eta Carinae using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite. His page about this data is here and up-to-date plots of the data can be found here.

In the image below the X-ray flux is plotted along with the times that STIS observations were made noted with red vertical lines.

Relative to Ground-based Optical and Infrared Photometry

The following ground-based photometry covered the brightness variations of the central star plus the surrounding nebula during the 2003.5 spectroscopic event:This is not intended as an exhaustive list of available ground-based photometry for the 2003.5 event

• Around the time of the 2003.5 spectroscopic event the optical light curve was monitored by a group at La Plata Observatory, Argentina (Fernandez Lajus et al., 2003, IBVS 5477) in Johnson B and V and Cousins R and I.

• Since 1972 a group at the South African Astronomical Observatory has monitored the brightness of Eta Carinae in the infrared J, H, K, and L bands ( Whitelock et al., 2004, MNRAS, 116).

The top panel of the image below is the Whitelock et al. infrared data. The bottom panel is the Fernadez Lajus et al. optical data. The vertical dotted lines note the times of STIS observations.

Relative timing of the various curves