Credit: NASA/CXC/SAO

Eta Carinae is the most luminous star known in our galaxy. It radiates energy at a rate that is 5 million times that of the Sun. Observations indicate that Eta Carinae is an unstable star that is rapidly boiling matter off its surface. Some astronomers think that it could explode as a supernova any time! At a distance of 7,000 light years from Earth, this gigantic explosion would pose no threat to life but it would be quite a show.

Multi-wavelength Images: (*Images not to scale)
X-ray NASA/CXC/SAO Jpg (50 k) Tiff (3.5 M) PS (1.6 M)	Optical NASA/HST/ J. Morse/K. Davidson JPG (252 k) Tiff (4.4 M) PS (3.4 M)	Infrared E. Polomski, U. Florida/CTIO Jpg (78 k) Tiff (1.8 M) PS (1.0 M)	Radio ATCA (S. White el al) Jpg (25 k) Tiff (869 k) PS (3.4 M)

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Revised: June 04, 2022