X-ray, Optical & Infrared Images of Eta Carinae
This multi-panel image shows Eta Carinae in the same field of view using three different telescopes. From left to right, the images are from the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Hubble Space Telescope in optical light, with the ground-based 2MASS survey in infrared. The X-ray image reveals an outer horseshoe-shaped ring, a hot inner core, and a hot central source. These structures glow in X-rays because they have been heated multi-million degrees by shock waves. The optical image shows two giant bubbles expanding away from the center of the system at over a million miles per hour. The infrared data reveal that Eta Carinae is one of the most luminous systems in the Milky Way. Eta Carinae is shrouded in a rapidly expanding cloud of dust that absorbs radiation from the central star and re-radiates in in the infrared.
(Credit: Optical: NASA/STScI, Near-Infrared: 2MASS/UMass/IPAC-Caltech/NASA/NSF)