Astronomers managed to get new images of Eta Carinae, a famous binary star. For centuries this impostor supernova remained a mystery to scientists, but now it has become a real threat.
A group of German, Irish and American astronomers have taken unique images of one of the most massive stars in the Milky Way.
Specialists from the European Southern Observatory published images of the star Eta Carinae, which, in the event of an explosion, can destroy our planet.
This star is located from the Earth at a distance of 7.5 thousand light years. It was discovered back in 1677, already at that time becoming one of the most mysterious objects in space. Its luminosity exceeds that of the Sun by five million times, while, since 1940, this hypergiant star has increased its brightness.
In the course of observations of Eta Carinae, it was found that this is a binary system consisting of a large star, the mass of which exceeds the mass of the Sun by 120-150 times, and its companion, the mass of which exceeds the mass of our star by about 30-80 times.
These two stars revolve in elongated orbits around a common center of gravity. Scientists have found that the larger star is currently in the last stages of its life. European scientists have managed to get the clearest images of this star to date using the giant Very Large Telescope. Each pixel in this photograph corresponds to a length of 14 astronomical units (149 million kilometers).
Thanks to these new photographs, specialists were able to examine in detail the zone in the central region of the binary system between the stars. The winds of these stars collide here, resulting in unusual swirls.
Thanks to timely measurements of the activity of Eta Carina, scientists can predict how soon this star will go supernova. As astronomers note, its explosion will make a star in the sky more noticeable than Venus and can destroy all satellites in the orbit of our planet, and in addition, deprive the Earth of the ozone layer, which will lead to catastrophic consequences.
Promotional video:
This star can become a supernova in several ways. In the event that such an object is large enough, then it collapses on itself when the fuel runs out. When the outer layers hit the core, it causes the star to explode, and its remnants scatter into space. In another case, matter accumulates on the white dwarf, and when its layer becomes too dense, an explosion occurs. But for Eta Carina none of these options are suitable.
It should be noted that some time ago American astronomers established that this star had flashed several times before the 19th century, but nevertheless did not die.
In 1843, for some time it became the second brightest star in the sky after Sirius, its luminosity then exceeded that of the Sun by 30 million times. However, over time, it faded again. It became very bright again in 1890. After 1900, there was also a flash of luminosity, after which scientists discovered the Homunculus nebula. The next increase in the brightness of the star occurred in 1953, and then in 1998-1999 it doubled its brightness.
All this made it possible for scientists to believe that Eta Carinae is an impostor supernova.