eta Carinae: linelist for the emission spectrum of the Weigelt blobs in the 1700 to 10 400 angstrom wavelength region

Abstract:
Aims. We present line identifications in the 1700 to 10 400 angstrom region for the Weigelt blobs B and D, located 0.'' 1 to 0 ''.3 NNW of Eta Carinae. The aim of this work is to characterize the behavior of these luminous, dense gas blobs in response to the broad highstate and the short low-state of. Carinae during its 5.54-year spectroscopic period. Methods. The spectra were recorded in a low state (March 1998) and an early high state (February 1999) with the Hubble Space Telescope/Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (HST/STIS) from 1640 to 10 400 angstrom using the 52 '' x 0.1 aperture centered on Eta Carinae at position angle, PA = 332 degrees. Extractions of the reduced spectrum including both Weigelt B and D, 0.'' 28 in length along the slit, were used to identify the narrow, nebular emission lines, measure their wavelengths and estimate their fluxes. Results. A linelist of 2500 lines is presented for the high and low states of the combined Weigelt blobs B and D. The spectra are dominated by emission lines from the iron-group elements, but include lines from lighter elements including parity-permitted and forbidden lines. A number of lines are fluorescent lines pumped by H Ly alpha. Other lines show anomalous excitation.