Super massive star Eta Carinae - Super massive star Eta Carinae - Eta Carinae is...

Super massive star Eta Carinae - Super massive star Eta Carinae - Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars in our galaxy. Its mass would be about 120 times that of the Sun with a diameter 1000 times larger than our star. The image obtained by the Hubble space telescope reveals two expanding gas lobes; it is the nebula called the Homuncule, vestige of a huge explosion that the star experienced 150 years ago. The star blows its exterior atmosphere and will eventually explode in a supernova. Eta Carinae is located approximately 8000 light years from Earth in the southern constellation of Carene. A huge, billowing pair of gas and dust clouds is captured in this stunning Hubble telescope picture of the super - massive star Eta Carinae. Even though Eta Carinae is more than 8,000 light - years away, features 10 billion miles across (about the diameter of our solar system) can be distinguished. Eta Carinae suffered giant outburst about 150 years ago, when it became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Although the star released as much visible light as a supernova explosion, it survived the outburst. Somehow, the explosion produced two lobes and a large, thin equatorial disk, all moving outward at about 1.5 million miles per hour. Estimated to be 100 times heftier than our Sun, Eta Carinae may be one of the most massive stars in our galaxy