Title:[0247] The Carina nebula and Trumpler 14 Caption:In the small region pictured here are three of the most luminous stars known in our Galaxy, each brighter than a million sun-like stars. To the left of the picture is an even more extreme star, Eta Carinae, shrouded in a small bright irregular nebula. In the upper right of the photograph is a cluster of very young stars, which appears to be associated with a number of bright-edged "elephant trunk" dust lanes, typical of many star-forming regions. All these objects and most of the bright stars scattered across the face of the nebula are together in space at a distance of about 7,000 light years. Copyright:(c) 1984 Anglo-Australian Telescope Board, photograph by David Malin Credit:D. F. Malin

Title:[0262] The Great Nebula in Carina, NGC 3372 Caption:Although no bright naked-eye stars are associated with the Carina Nebula now, 150 years ago there blazed forth here one of the most unusual and peculiar stars ever seen. The star is known as Eta Carinae and for a few months in 1843 it was the second or third brightest star in the sky. Since then it has faded and is today about 1,000 times fainter than it was at its brightest. The whole region around Eta Carinae is rich in hot stars of which Eta is an extreme example and it is their combined radiation that produces the spectacular Carina Nebula, which dominates this picture. Copyright:(c) ROE/Anglo-Australian Telescope Board, photographs by David Malin Credit:D. F. Malin

Title:[0590] Eta Carinae Caption:The Carina nebula is one of the brightest optical emission nebulae in the Milky Way. It stretches over some 2-1/2 degrees of sky which, at a distance of 2.6 kpc (8,000 light years), is 300 light years across - about twenty times the size of the Orion nebula. Two clusters of young stars are primarily responsible for heating the nebula. Each cluster contains one of the brightest known stars in our galaxy. One is HD93129 A, which has a mass estimated to be about 120 times that of the Sun and releases most of its five million solar luminosities as ultraviolet radiation. The second bright star is Eta Carinae. Eta Carinae, which also is one of the most luminous stars in our galaxy with a bolometric or total luminosity exceeding 10 40 ergs/sec, emits most of its energy in the infrared. Eta Carinae is today the brightest infrared source outside our solar system observed at wavelengths of 10 and 20 microns. At about 7th magnitude, Eta Carinae is not visible to the naked eye today, but the star's brightness has changed by large amounts over the centuries. Halley estimated it to be 4 times the magnitude observed in 1977. About one hundred years later it was observed to be two magnitudes brighter. During the mid-1840s, it had brightened to magnitude -1 and was the second brightest star in the sky! Eta Carinae remained brighter than first magnitude until 1857, then faded to magnitude 8 by 1900. However, by the late 1970s, it had brightened to magnitude 6.2. It continues to show slow changes in its brightness. Copyright:(c) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Credit:Courtesy of National Optical Astronomy Observatories

Title:[0591] Eta Carinae: infrared image Caption:Total luminosity of Eta Carinae (for a distance of 2,600 pc) is ~6x106 times that of the Sun. The infrared emission arises predominantly from a shell of dust apparently associated with the "Homunculus nebula" around it. The dust is heated by the central star to a temperature of ~250 K. The present infrared luminosity is the same as the maximum optical luminosity observed in the outburst in 1843. The size of this region, 12' x 17', is too small to be resolved by IRAS, but could be studied in detail by SIRTF. Copyright:(c) Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory Credit:Courtesy of JPL/IPAC2

Title:[1094] Eta Carinae or Keyhole Nebula in Carina Caption:Eta Carinae Nebula, NGC 3372, also called Keyhole Nebula, in the constellation Carina. This gaseous bright nebula surrounds the peculiar variable star Eta Carina, with overlying clouds of dark material. The nebula is 8,000 light years from Earth. CTIO photograph. Copyright: Credit:National Optical Astronomy Observatories

Title:[1153] Eta Carinae or Keyhole Nebula in Carina Caption:Central portion of the Eta Carinae Nebula, NGC 3372, also "Keyhole Nebula," in the constellation Carina. This gaseous bright nebula surrounds the peculiar variable star Eta Carinae, with overlying clouds of dark material. Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory 4-meter telescope photo. The nebula is 8,000 light years from Earth. Copyright: Credit:National Optical Astronomy Observatories