Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Eta Carinae, John Bozeman

Eta Carinae

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
Eta Carinae, John Bozeman

Eta Carinae

Equipment

Loading...

Acquisition details

Loading...

Description

The Homunculus Nebula, surrounds the star, Eta Carinae.  located around 7,500 light-years (2,300 parsecs) distant in the constellation Carina. Previously a 4th-magnitude star, it brightened in 1837 to become brighter than Rigel, marking the start of its so-called "Great Eruption". It became the second-brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility after 1856. In a smaller eruption, it reached 6th magnitude in 1892 before fading again. It has brightened consistently since about 1940, becoming brighter than magnitude 4.5 by 2014. At declination −59° 41′ 04.26″, Eta Carinae is circumpolar from locations on Earth south of latitude 30°S, (for reference, the latitude of Johannesburg is 26°12′S); and is not visible north of about latitude 30°N, just south of Cairo, which is at a latitude of 30°2′N. The two main stars of the Eta Carinae system have an eccentric orbit with a period of 5.54 years. The primary is an extremely unusual star, similar to a luminous blue variable (LBV). It was initially 150–250 M☉, of which it has already lost at least 30 M☉, and it is expected to explode as a supernova in the astronomically near future. This is the only star known to produce ultraviolet laser emission. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, probably of spectral class O, around 30–80 times as massive as the Sun. The system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption. It is a member of the Trumpler 16 open cluster within the much larger Carina Nebula.

Data from the Hubble Space Telescope MAST Pipeline. Release date:     2007-01-20

Camera: ACS

Color Mapped:

Red-F550M
Green-F330W
Blue-F250W

Processed with FITS Liberator, PixInsight and Photoshop 2023.

Comments

Histogram

Eta Carinae, John Bozeman