Friday, May 6, 2011

The Death of a Giant

Image courtesy of NASA.
Eta Carinae, a star roughly one hundred times the mass of our own sun, seen via infrared imaging. The surrounding mass (The Homunculus nebula) was partially created when the star went super-nova thousands of years ago. The resulting explosion lit up the sky in the mid 1800's before eventually subsiding.

27 comments:

  1. well surely it didn't "light up the sky". and is it stuck looking like that forever?

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  2. Nice article. I like astronomy :p

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  3. damn that's really neat! I love stuff like this :)

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  4. That's insane. I love our intelligent we are, and I still can't really comprehend the size of... space..

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  5. Super novas are beautiful

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  6. Amazing post, I love astronomy!

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  7. We are so small and insignificant to the universe. Good post!

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  8. Wow, universe fascinates me with every picture I see on the internet

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  9. Nice picture, interesting.

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  10. Eta Carinae is my favorite star! I wonder what it must have been like for those people back in the 1800s

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  11. Woah. Astronomy sure rocks.

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  12. i agree, this space stuff...its scary, its crazy...but it sure is amazing

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  13. That kinda looks like wing commander lol

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  14. Very cool photo. Never knew a super nova would look like that.

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  15. I was always a fan of astronomy :)

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  16. Sweet picture - I've always been interested in this stuff - I only wish I would be alive long enough to see the future and the advancements we make with astronomy.

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  17. God that picture is so awesome.....did you have a special program for that? or just found it on the internet

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  18. Our sun is destined for a similar future.

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  19. just wondering, do you take any space pics??

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