now; for part of the nineteenth century, it was not only the brightest star in the constellation but also the second brightest in the entire sky.
Eta CarinaeΓÇÖs great mass (over 100 times that of the Sun) is also peculiar. The star appears faint to us only because it is so far away (about 8,000 light years). In the nineteenth century, when Eta Carinae was at its brightest, it must have been a million times brighter than our Sun.
According to current astronomical theory, Eta Carinae is too big to remain stable. Instability may account for its wild shifts in brightness. Some astronomers believe that it will explode in the near future (in astronomical terms, ΓÇ£nearΓÇ¥ means tens of thousands of
