eta Carinae’s Dusty Homunculus Nebula from Near-Infrared to Submillimeter Wavelengths: Mass, Composition, and Evidence for Fading Opacity

Abstract: Infrared observations of the dusty, massive Homunculus Nebula around the luminous blue variable ?· Carinae are crucial to characterize the mass-loss history and help constrain the mechanisms leading to the great eruption. We present the2.4-670 µm spectral energy distribution, constructed from legacy Infrared Space Observatory observations and new spectroscopy obtained with the Herschel Space Observatory. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that the two best-fit dust models yield compos…