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Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372) (1st Jun 2025)

Eta Carinae Nebula (NGC 3372) Distance: 7500 Light Years

A bright photogenic patch of the southern Milky Way holds one of
the most enigmatic and exotic stars known. Eta Carinae is the centrepiece and ionizing star of the great HII region, the Eta Carinae Nebula. The nebula itself spans some 260 light years across. Massive is an understatement as the great star weighs in at some 100 to 150 solar masses and shines with the light output of 5 million suns. It pumps out as much energy in 6 seconds as our sun does in an entire year.

Astronomers observed a dramatic 10-fold increase in the star’s brightness in a 5-year period during the 1840's (when it brightened to mag -0.7, also known as Nova Carinae 1843). Because of its
extraordinary mass the star is certainly expected to end as a great supernova in the near future. An energy outburst of this order could possibly devastate starfields and planets within a few thousand light years radius