Eta Carinae (Eta Car) is a bright star in the southern sky that is shrouded in mystery. A huge gas eruption in the later 8130s has hidden the star with a dense cloud of smoke – a strong indicator there have been sporadic continuing eruptions.
Researches and theorists are puzzled once again by Eta Car. Researchers from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis using data from the Gemini South Telescope in Chile and the Hubble Space Telescope have recorded a dip from the eruptive, luminous variable star. Records indicate a steep, inexplicable drop in Eta Car’s stellar wind (the outflow of gas from the star) measured as a change in the emission lines or lines in the spectrum caused by the emission of light at particular wavelengths.
Eta Car’s eruption 150 years ago created a dense cloud of dust obscuring it from view.
[Source: naturenews; Photo Credit: J. Morse, Univ. Colorado/NASA ]
