New forbidden and fluorescent Fe III lines identified in HST spectra of η Carinae

We discuss the origin of eight emission lines in the spectra of gas blobs close to the central star of η Carinae. The spectra have been obtained with the Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) and the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Between 2400 and 2500 Å five narrow lines are identified as new forbidden lines of doubly ionized iron, [Fe III]. We present gA-value data for the corresponding transitions, which combine two different metastable configurations of Fe III. An anomalous intensity of the narrow Fe III line (UV 34) at 1914 Å is explained as fluorescence due to HLyα pumping. A level mixing of about 1% increases the f-value of the pumped excitation channel by more than two orders of magnitude, which makes the pumping efficient and the fluorescence significant. We introduce a new designation for fluorescence lines photoexcited by an accidental resonance, eg. 〈Fe III〉 in the case of doubly ionized iron.