Eta Carina
Right ascension: 10:43:06.9 Magnitude: 6
Declination: -59:25:16
Image: FES 1571
Date: 1984 Aug 8 2:20 UT
Exposure duration: 160 sec
Eta Carina is an object embedded in a bright nebula and small dusty cloud it
produced following a bright outburst in the 1840s. By 1843 it had become the
second-brightest star in the sky (m ~ -1). It is currently just below naked-eye
visibility. Located about 6800 light-yrs away, it has a mass of about 50 to
100 times that of the Sun, with a luminosity 5 million times greater. It
appears to be composed of four stars, the brightest of which outshines the
others by a factor of twelve. Eta Carina is a likely candidate as a future
supernova, which could become brighter than Venus as seen from Earth.
Last updated: 08 April 1998
Obtained from IUE project at Goddard Space Flight Center