Eta Carina, the star, not the nebula

[malclocke]

I have a look at the Eta Carina nebula most times I get my scope out, but I have never paid much attention to the star Eta Carina itself. I've always loved the famous 'dumbbell' Hubble photo of this star, so tonight I thought I would see if any of the detail from that photo is visible.

I pointed my scope at what I assume is the right star and used my maximum magnification (~270x). The star seemed to have an orange colour, and I'm sure I could make out a faint reddish, roughly circular structure to one side of the star. Is this the same structure that is visible in the hubble photo, or something different? Am I even looking at the right star?

[mental4astro]

Yep, you are.

The structure you saw around Eta Carina is called the Homunculus Nebula. It is the cocoon of ejecta surrounding the giant star as the colossus goes through its death throes on the way to going super nova.

Look again, this time a little more patiently, and you also notice its filametary and hour glass structure.

The energy of Eta Carina has also produced a shockwave around it that has formed the Key Hole dark nebula that is effectively being pushed towards us. The rest of the shock was has left a hollow around Eta Carina.

This link to a tour around Eta Carina (http://imgsrc.hubblesite.org/hu/gallery/db/tours/tour-carina/tour.swf) is a fantastic resource to this amazing nebula and star.

[alocky]

That's the homunculus nebula, first described by Herschel, and made famous by the Hubble image. These lobes of gas have been blown of by previous outbursts of eta Carina, and are definitely visible at those sorts of powers. In large scopes you can see both lobes, and the equatorial jets under good conditions. Definitely one of my favourites, and a good region to go panning about for fine detail in the nebulosity.
cheers,
Andrew.

Snap - honestly, when I started typing this Alexander hadn't replied! Kids...

[malclocke]

Thanks Alexander and Andrew, that's great. I'll definitely have a longer look next time and see if I can tease out any more detail.