Can Carinae be a triple system?

Abstract

We examine the possibility that e 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.