Travelling from Earth to Eta Carinae

Travelling from Earth, this animation zips towards the constellation of Carina, where we find the colossal star system Eta Carinae, 7500 light-years away. The Eta Carinae system weighs more than 100 times the mass of our Sun and consists of two massive stars orbiting each other. Surrounding the stars is the magnificent Homunculus Nebula, which was created during a violent explosion of gas from Eta Carinae nearly 200 years ago, now known as the “Great Eruption”. This animation was originally produced for an ESO Chasing Starlight episode on the strangest stars in our Universe.