Tag Archive for 'Eta Carinae'

Composite images of Eta Carinae. Image credit: NASA / SAO / GSFC / Corcoran et al.

Chandra Discovers New Details about ‘Great Eruption’ of Eta Carinae

Sep 27, 2023 by Enrico de Lazaro

Using data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory, astronomers are tracking the expansion of the X-ray nebula around Eta Carinae, a luminous binary system...

Astronomers have monitored the Eta Carinae binary system for more than two decades. It has been prone to violent outbursts, including an episode in the 1840s during which ejected material formed the bipolar bubbles seen here. Now, using Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) instrument to probe the nebula in ultraviolet light, they have uncovered the glow of magnesium embedded in warm gas (shown in blue) in places they had not seen it before. The luminous magnesium resides in the space between the dusty bipolar bubbles and the outer shock-heated nitrogen-rich filaments (shown in red). The streaks visible in the blue region outside the lower-left lobe are a striking feature of the image. These streaks are created when the star’s light rays poke through the dust clumps scattered along the bubble’s surface. Wherever the ultraviolet light strikes the dense dust, it leaves a long, thin shadow that extends beyond the lobe into the surrounding gas. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble / N. Smith, University of Arizona / J. Morse, BoldlyGo Institute.

Hubble Captures Eta Carinae in Ultraviolet Light

Jul 2, 2019 by News Staff

Eta Carinae is a binary stellar system approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina. Also known as HD 93308 and Hen 3-481, the system...

This image of the Carina Nebula reveals the dynamic cloud of interstellar matter and thinly spread gas and dust as never before; the massive stars in the interior of this cosmic bubble emit intense radiation that causes the surrounding gas to glow; by contrast, other regions of the nebula contain dark pillars of dust cloaking newborn stars. Image credit: ESO / J. Emerson / M. Irwin / J. Lewis.

VISTA Sees Carina Nebula in Infrared Light

Aug 29, 2018 by News Staff

ESO’s Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) at Paranal Observatory in Chile has taken a spectacular infrared image of the Carina...

Eta Carinae’s great eruption in the 1840s created the Homunculus Nebula, imaged here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Now about a light-year long, the expanding cloud contains enough material to make at least 10 copies of our Sun. Astronomers cannot yet explain what caused this eruption. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble SM4 ERO Team.

NuSTAR Detects High-Energy Cosmic Rays from Eta Carinae System

Jul 4, 2018 by News Staff

Eta Carinae — a binary star system approximately 7,500 light-years away in the constellation Carina — is accelerating particles to high energies,...

This mosaic shows the Carina Nebula (left part of the image), home of the Eta Carinae stellar system. This part was observed with the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The middle part shows the direct surrounding of the star system: the Homunculus Nebula, created by the ejected material from the Eta Carinae system. This image was taken with ESO’s Very Large Telescope. The right image shows the innermost part of the system as seen with ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer/ It is the highest resolution image of Eta Carinae ever. Image credit: Gerd Weigelt / ESO.

Eta Carinae Imaged in Sharpest Detail Ever

Oct 19, 2016 by News Staff

Astronomers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) in Chile have snapped the most detailed image ever of the Eta Carinae stellar system. This...

Eta Carinae’s great eruption in the 1840s created the billowing Homunculus Nebula, imaged here by the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope. Image credit: NASA / ESA / Hubble SM4 ERO Team.

Astronomers Find Five Supergiant Stars Far Beyond Milky Way Galaxy

Jan 11, 2016 by News Staff

Using the NASA/ESA Hubble and NASA’s Spitzer space telescopes, astronomers have discovered five very luminous and massive stellar systems in the star-forming...

Eta Carinae's great eruption in the 1840s created the billowing Homunculus Nebula, imaged here by Hubble. Now about a light-year long, the expanding cloud contains enough material to make at least 10 copies of our Sun. Astronomers cannot yet explain what caused this eruption. Image credit: Jon Morse, University of Colorado / NASA.

Astronomers Zero in on Binary System Eta Carinae

Jan 8, 2015 by News Staff

Astronomers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have produced the most comprehensive picture of Eta Carinae to date. Eta...