2000A&A...361..977J

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 2500Å 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 1914Å 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.