The three-dimensional visualization of Eta Carinae, a massive star that had an enormous eruption observed in the 1840s, is based upon multiwavelength data from Chandra, Hubble, and Spitzer. Data from each set of different wavelengths of light reveal different structures and provide more information about the outbursts of Eta Carinae and structures that exist today. Since its launch in 1999, Chandra has observed Eta Carinae multiple times to investigate more about it through the X-rays it generates. The visualization is presented by the AstroViz Project of NASA's Universe of Learning..

What will be the next star in our Milky Way galaxy to explode as a supernova? Astronomers aren't certain, but one candidate is in Eta Carinae, a volatile system containing two massive stars that closely orbit each other. This image has three types of light: optical data from Hubble (appearing as white), ultraviolet (cyan) from Hubble, and X-rays from Chandra (appearing as purple emission). The previous eruptions of this star have resulted in a ring of hot, X-ray emitting gas about 2.3 light years in diameter surrounding these two stars.

The three-dimensional (3D) printable model of Eta Carinae's Homunculus Nebula is based on data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Eta Carinae was once one of the brightest stars in the heavens, easily visible to mariners navigating by the southern sky in the mid-1840s. However, Eta Carinae quickly faded into obscurity afer its brief outburst. Over a century and a half later, NASA space observatories have enabled astronomers and artists to assemble a three-dimensional model of the Homunculus Nebula and accompanying clouds of dust and gas enshrouding the petulant star.

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Build a Homunculus Nebula: Eta Carinae