                        Astronomy Picture of the Day

    Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                               2022 February 9

             Eta Car: 3D Model of the Most Dangerous Star Known
   Video Credit: NASA, CXC, April Hobart; Text: Michael F. Corcoran (NASA,
                            Catholic U., HEAPOW)

   Explanation: What's the most dangerous star near earth? Many believe
   it's Eta Carinae, a binary star system about 100 times the mass of the
   Sun, just 10,000 light years from earth. Eta Carinae is a ticking time
   bomb, set to explode as a supernova in only a few million years, when
   it may bathe the earth in dangerous gamma rays. The star suffered a
   notorious outburst in the 1840s when it became the brightest star in
   the southern sky, only to fade to obscurity within decades. The star
   was not destroyed, but lies hidden behind a thick, expanding,
   double-lobed structure called the Homunculus which now surrounds the
   binary. Studies of this ejecta provide forensic clues about the
   explosion. Using observations from NASA satellites we can now visualize
   the 3D distribution of the shrapnel, all the way from the infrared,
   through optical and UV, to the outermost shell of million-degree
   material, visible only in X-rays.

                       Tomorrow's picture: open space
     __________________________________________________________________

       Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
            NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.
                NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                      A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC
                             & Michigan Tech. U.

