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Fast blast wave from the star Eta Carinae's 1843 eruption
An artist's conception of the fast blast wave from the star Eta Carinae's 1843 eruption which today has caught up with a slow-moving shell ejected in a previous outburst about 1,000 years ago, producing a bright fireworks display that heats the older shell and makes it emit X-rays (orange). The well-known, two-lobed "Homunculus" nebula, a slow-moving shell of gas and dust also produced in the 1843 eruption, is shown closer to the star, which is a hot blue supergiant.
[Research supported in part by the U.S. National Science Foundation.]
Learn more in the UC-Berkeley news release 1843 Stellar Eruption New Type of Star Explosion. (Date of Image: 2008)
Credit: Gemini Observatory artwork by Lynette Cook
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