Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372)

About this Image

The super massive star Eta Carinae is embedded in a huge gas and dust cloud. It is situated approx. 7,500 light-years away. Eta Carinae suffered a giant outburst in the year 1841, when it became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Though the star released as much visible light as a supernova explosion, it survived the outburst.

Such large stars are very unstable. The expelled gas that creates the spectacular nebula (NGC 3372) emitting light in different colors according the ionized elements, that we see today. The gas shell is moving outward at about 1.5 million miles per hour. The whole nebula spans 300 light years.

This image has been taken with RGB filters (top) and with narrowband filters as mapped image (middle). The H-alpha version you find below.
North is to the right.

Below you see the high resolved center crop of the above image in 200% size showing the tiny but famous Homunculus Nebula around the star Eta-Carina. It is expelled material from the eruption in the year 1841.

Find a famous mosaic on the Eta Carina area taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007 here.