An international team of astronomers has taken the sharpest view of Eta Carinae , an unusual binary star organisation 7,500 lite - age from Earth that is known for sensational stellar winds that move at velocities of up to 10 million kilometers ( 6 million miles ) per hour .
The winds extend far from the stars , in what is know as the Homunculus Nebula , 1 light - year long and estimated to arrest 40 Suns ' Charles Frederick Worth of gas and dust . The researchers were interested in an area at the nebula ’s marrow , 1,000 metre smaller than its distance , where the fart from the two stars mix .
There , the malarky smash into each other , make temperature of billion of degrees and give off a large amount of X - ray radiation . Using theVery Large Telescope Interferometer(VLTI ) in Chile , the team , led by Gerd Weigelt from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany , was capable of seeing this trigger-happy region for the first time .
“ Our dreams came dependable , because we can now get super piercing images in the infrared . The VLTI ply us with a unequalled opportunity to better our forcible intellect of Eta Carinae and many other key object , ” said Weigelt in astatement .
In a paper , which will appear in the journalAstronomy & Astrophysics , the investigator discussed the unexpected detail of the structure . The region is fan - shape due to the hint from the smaller , live star crash into the denser winds from the large one .
These watching allowed for accurate measurement of the wind speeds in the neighborhood , which will be used to improve the computer models and hopefully explain precisely what plump on in and around these superstar .
This mosaic picture the Carina Nebula ( allow for ) , Eta Carinae ( middle ) , and the region where the winds compound ( right ) . ESO
The researchers are already look at the next set of observations that will be require when the VLTI is upgrade .
“ The new VLTI musical instrument GRAVITY and MATISSE will grant us to get interferometric trope with even high preciseness and over a wider wavelength range , ” added team member Dieter Schertl , also at the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy . “ This across-the-board wavelength mountain range is take to derive the physical properties of many astronomic object . ”
Eta Carinae is live to have undergone a formidable brightening during the 1800s , becoming the secondly - bright champion in the sky . The event is known as the Great Eruption , and it was due to the star expelling a big amount of material in a very short amount of time .
