While rocks in space are very much a safety concern for people on Earth, stellar expansion, flares, and eruptions are really the ultimate solar system enders. Folks down in the southern hemisphere have had a rather spectacular view of the evolving end of the Eta Carina system. This fairly mundane star that was good for navigation underwent an outburst in 1843 and then faded out of view before re-brightening in 1887. In the modern, space-based observing era, researchers have resolved the details of this system across many different wavelengths that resolved the great hourglass clouds expanding from the central stars – Eta Carina is thought to be a binary system – and by looking at the system in different wavelengths, the different densities of materials have been revealed.

Now, data visualization experts at the Space Telescope Science Institute have combined Hubble and Spitzer’s visual and infrared data with X-ray data from the Chandra X-ray Observatory to create a stunning new visualization that brings together a wealth of scientific information in a format designed to be accessible to everyday people. We will link to all the visualization information on our website, DailySpace.org.

More Information

Hubble press release