Preview of a forthcoming supernova

Esahubble_potw1208a_1024

esahubble_potw1208a February 20th, 2012

Credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA

At the turn of the 19th century, the binary star system Eta Carinae was faint and undistinguished. In the first decades of the century, it became brighter and brighter, until, by April 1843, it was the second brightest star in the sky, outshone only by Sirius (which is almost a thousand times closer to Earth). In the years that followed, it gradually dimmed again and by the 20th century was totally invisible to the naked eye.The star has continued to vary in brightness ever since, and while it is once again visible to the naked eye on a dark night, it has never again come close to its peak of 1843.The larger of the two stars in the Eta Carinae system is a huge and unstable star that is nearing the end of its life, and the event that the 19th century astronomers observed was a stellar near-death experience. Scientists call these outbursts supernova impostor events, because they appear similar to supernovae but stop just short of destroying their star.Although 19th century astronomers did not have telescopes powerful enough to see the 1843 outburst in detail, its effects can be studied today. The huge clouds of matter thrown out a century and a half ago, known as the Homunculus Nebula, have been a regular target for Hubble since its launch in 1990. This image, taken with the Advanced Camera for Surveys High Resolution Channel is the most detailed yet, and shows how the material from the star was not thrown out in a uniform manner, but forms a huge dumbbell shape.Eta Carinae is not only interesting because of its past, but also because of its future. It is one of the closest stars to Earth that is likely to explode in a supernova in the relatively near future (though in astronomical timescales the near future could still be a million years away). When it does, expect an impressive view from Earth, far brighter still than its last outburst: SN 2006gy, the brightest supernova ever observed, came from a star of the same type.This image consists of ultraviolet and visible light images from the High Resolution Channel of Hubbles Advanced Camera for Surveys. The field of view is approximately 30 arcseconds across. Links Previous images of Eta Carinae from the Hubble Space Telescope: http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9623a/ http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9409a/ http://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo9110a/

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1208a/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
Eta Carinae Homunculus Nebula
Subject - Solar System
Star > Grouping > Binary
Star > Type > Variable
Nebula > Appearance > Reflection
Esahubble_potw1208a_128
 

Position Details Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 10h 45m 3.7s
DEC = -59° 40’ 58.8”
Orientation
North is 35.0° CCW
Field of View
0.5 x 0.4 arcminutes
Constellation
Carina

Color Mapping Details Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Purple Hubble (ACS) Ultraviolet (U) 220.0 nm
Blue Hubble (ACS) Ultraviolet (U) 250.0 nm
Green Hubble (ACS) Ultraviolet (U) 330.0 nm
Orange Hubble (ACS) Optical (V) 550.0 nm
Red Hubble (ACS) Optical (NII) 660.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Purple
Blue
Green
Orange
Red
Esahubble_potw1208a_1280
×
ID
potw1208a
Subject Category
A.3.6.1   B.3.2.1   B.4.2.2  
Subject Name
Eta Carinae, Homunculus Nebula
Credits
ESA/Hubble & NASA
Release Date
2012-02-20T10:00:00
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1208a/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS, ACS
Color Assignment
Purple, Blue, Green, Orange, Red
Band
Ultraviolet, Ultraviolet, Ultraviolet, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
U, U, U, V, NII
Central Wavelength
220, 250, 330, 550, 660
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
161.265259793, -59.6830085094
Reference Dimension
1089.0, 1033.0
Reference Pixel
544.0, 516.0
Scale
-6.89507122863e-06, 6.89507122863e-06
Rotation
34.980000000000032
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
potw1208a
Metadata Date
2012-02-10T09:43:28+01:00
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In