Warm, glowing dust that was ejected during the 1840s is now heated by radiation from the central stars.
Mirrored lobes of gas and dust surround Eta Carinae’s central stars, which are flanked at right by ragged, shock-heated gas.
When clumpy dust is struck by ultraviolet light from the hidden stars, it can send out rays of light or cast long, thin shadows.
X-rays at the center highlight the stars’ colliding winds, while beyond that expelled material crashes into earlier ejections.
Two massive stars, locked in a tight orbit, continue to shape gas and dust that were ejected over a hundred years ago.
A Story Of Variable Stars: Eta Carinae
Tracking the outbursts of two tightly orbiting stars.
The brightness of some stars varies over time: Some temporarily increase in brightness for several days or weeks, others have periodic changes in brightness, and, in other examples, stars change in brightness based on the environments around them. The variation in the brightness of some stars tells us about how they evolve, and helps researchers learn about their properties inside and out.
In the 1840s, what looked like a single star erupted in the night sky. One of the two stars in Eta Carinae ejected some of its mass, brightening the pair and making them the second-brightest star visible in the night sky for more than a decade. These stars are extremely bright and prone to ongoing outbursts, which are causing the stars to lose mass. Observations made in multiple wavelengths of light have allowed researchers to determine the timing of each outburst, as well as the materials it sent out, which formed two lobes of gas and dust. Eta Carinae offers researchers an ongoing opportunity to study massive stars.
Quick Facts: Eta Carinae
Type of object:
Extreme, high-mass star system
Distance from Earth:
7,500 light-years
Location in the sky:
Carina Constellation in the Southern sky
Did you know:
In the 1840s, Eta Carinae brightened, becoming the second-brightest star visible in the night sky for more than a decade, an event known as the Great Eruption. In the 1860s, it faded from view. Since the late 1990s, it has slowly brightened, recently becoming visible to the naked eye again.
Credits: Eta Carinae
Infrared image from the 6.5 meter Magellan telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile courtesy of Dr. Nathan Smith, University of Arizona
Visible light image from the Hubble Space Telescope: NASA, STScI
Ultraviolet light image from the Hubble Space Telescope: NASA, STScI
X-ray light image from the Chandra X-ray Observatory: NASA, CXC, GSFC, K. Hamaguchi, et al.
Multi-wavelength image (infrared, visible, ultraviolet, X-ray): NASA, ESA, N. Smith (University of Arizona), J. Morse (BoldlyGo Institute), and A. Pagan
Subject-matter expertise provided by Dr. Jon Morse, Dr. Nathan Smith
Produced by the Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach