a doomed star.

[Zydeco]

Explanation: Eta Carinae may be about to explode. But no one knows when - it may be next year, it may be one million years from now. Eta Carinae's mass - about 100 times greater than our Sun - makes it an excellent candidate for a full blown supernova. Historical records do show that about 150 years ago Eta Carinae underwent an unusual outburst that made it one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Eta Carinae, in the Keyhole Nebula, is the only star currently thought to emit natural LASER light. This image, taken in 1996, resulted from sophisticated image-processing procedures designed to bring out new details in the unusual nebula that surrounds this rogue star. Now clearly visible are two distinct lobes, a hot central region, and strange radial streaks. The lobes are filled with lanes of gas and dust which absorb the blue and ultraviolet light emitted near the center. The streaks remain unexplained. Will these clues tell us how the nebula was formed? Will they better indicate when Eta Carinae will explode?

[Mr1der]

KABOOM!!

that cereal sucked...

[nametakennow]

Wait, so is it a nebula or a star? It looks like a star that's taking a big ****... in a more serious light, a star that's in the process of exploding...

[base9se]

damn that's coool!!

[Dirtylou]

I'm no astrologist so how would it affect earth if it were to explode?

[DAEDALUS]

Astrologist? Or astronomer? LOL

[yelnatsch517]

Hmm. I find the laser emissions the most interesting. Wonder why or how that is.

[mikeh16]

Funny!

[PoorManQ45]

That's a cool find. It seems that we(the human people) have had very limited sucess in actually capturing pictures of a supernova.

That will be very "neat" to see pictures of it if and when it does go supernova.

Or, what would be even cooler to see, is after it goes supernova, it then implodes upon itself,, creating a Neutron Star. Or possibly even a "Black Hole".

[yelnatsch517]

O yea, couldn't the star actually not exist anymore? Since it's millions of light years away, wouldn't the images we are taking now actually be images that are millions of years old?

[Bronze MFP]

I saw the title, and though this was a thread about Macaulay Culkin.

Dirtylou, if that star asplodes, it won't do anything to earth... even if it did, it would take a few hundred or thousand years for anything to happen. you gotta remember, stuff in space is really spread out. when you see a picture of a star, and say it was 100,000 light years away... well it took that light 100,000 years to get here, so really that pic is 100,000 years old... so yeah, nothin to worry about, just cool space pics to look at.

[PoorManQ45]

That is correct!

We are now viewing the light that was emitted from the star, however many light years away is the time period.

[vicki]

O yea, couldn't the star actually not exist anymore? Since it's millions of light years away, wouldn't the images we are taking now actually be images that are millions of years old?

Not millions of years old but definitely several years old. Images and other communication with the satellites and space crafts can only be sent at the speed of sound. If NASA wants to communicate with a satellite or tell it where to go etc., it has to send out a signal, wait days or even years for it to receive the signal, have it do its job, then send it back which could take another few years.

[MinisterofDOOM]

That is a great picture. Thanks for posting this!

I haven't seen a picture that captures the whole effect of a near-nova star like that, with the jets and gaseous expulsions around the center so visible. I think I found a new desktop!

[getnrowdy23]

i too thought this would be about Macaulay Culkin... awesome! like one other person asked, what would that do to earth? anything? if it explodes i mean, cus it is so big

[themadscientist]

I had an engine that went nova, it died in combat though so it will be welcomed into nismohalla.

[MinisterofDOOM]

My dad used to have a nova. Not the pimp nova muscle car. The Nova that was really a Toyota Corrolla. P. O. S.

[Dirtylou]

Yo I can't believe I confused astrologist with astronomer. BTW I do know the difference just for future refrence.lol

[Urabus GodofTraction]

Not millions of years old but definitely several years old. Images and other communication with the satellites and space crafts can only be sent at the speed of sound. If NASA wants to communicate with a satellite or tell it where to go etc., it has to send out a signal, wait days or even years for it to receive the signal, have it do its job, then send it back which could take another few years.

Incorrect. NASA communicates with its satellites via radio waves and lasers, both of which travel at the speed of light. I think it takes some 8 minutes for a signal to reach Mars.

That picture is amazing. It has replaced the Ram SRT-10 as my background