HR Carinae: New spectroscopic data and physical parameters ^*,**

Observatório Nacional-MCT, Rua José Cristino, 77, CEP 20921-400, São Cristóvão, Rio de Janeiro-RJ, Brazil

Corresponding author: M. A. D. Machado, dora@dage0.on.br

Received: 13 November 2001
Accepted: 29 January 2002

Abstract

We present new high-resolution observations of the LBV (or S Dor variable) HR Carinae, taken with the FEROS spectrograph in the wavelength range λ 3900–8200. The H i and Fe ii lines show P Cygni profiles while the He  i lines are all in absorption. Emission lines due to [N ii], [O i], Na ii, Mg ii, Ca ii and [Fe ii] were also identified. Complex structures in the absorption profiles of Hα, Hβ and in most of the iron lines suggest the presence of two distinct absorption regions with expansion velocities of 30 km s^-1 and 100 km s^-1. From a spectral analysis of the Balmer lines with a non-LTE expanding atmosphere code, we derive for HR Carinae the following parameters: K, , yr^-1 and He/H = 0.4. The comparison of the temperature obtained in this work with the values estimated by Nota et al. ([CITE]) indicates that HR Carinae is moving redward across the H-R diagram on a short timescale, due to a new S Dor-phase.