{ "id": 12989, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12989/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Superstar Eta Carinae Shoots Cosmic Rays", "description": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available. || Eta_Car_CR_Still.jpg (1920x1080) [307.1 KB] || Eta_Car_CR_Still_print.jpg (1024x576) [127.9 KB] || Eta_Car_CR_Still_searchweb.png (320x180) [98.2 KB] || Eta_Car_CR_Still_thm.png (80x40) [7.3 KB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.webm (1920x1080) [16.1 MB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.m4v (1920x1080) [155.6 MB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.mp4 (1920x1080) [234.6 MB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080p.mov (1920x1080) [311.6 MB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt [2.0 KB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt [2.0 KB] || 12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.mov (1920x1080) [2.1 GB] || ", "release_date": "2018-07-03T11:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:46:39.808921-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 402389, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/Eta_Car_CR_Still.jpg", "filename": "Eta_Car_CR_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 }, "main_video": null, "main_credits": { "Produced by": [ { "name": "Scott Wiessinger", "employer": "USRA" } ], "Written by": [ { "name": "Francis Reddy", "employer": "University of Maryland College Park" } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 326257, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12989/#media_group_326257", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "

Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.

Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.

Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.

Complete transcript available.

", "items": [ { "id": 246834, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402389, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/Eta_Car_CR_Still.jpg", "filename": "Eta_Car_CR_Still.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 246841, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402394, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/Eta_Car_CR_Still_print.jpg", "filename": "Eta_Car_CR_Still_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and 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null, "instance": { "id": 402396, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/Eta_Car_CR_Still_thm.png", "filename": "Eta_Car_CR_Still_thm.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 80, "height": 40, "pixels": 3200 } }, { "id": 246844, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402397, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.webm", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.webm", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 246838, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402393, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.m4v", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.m4v", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 246837, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402392, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.mp4", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 246836, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402391, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080p.mov", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_1080p.mov", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 246839, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 850882, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.srt", "media_type": "Captions", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "label": "English", "language_code": "en-US" } }, { "id": 246840, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 850883, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_SRT_Captions.en_US.vtt", "media_type": "Captions", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "label": "English", "language_code": "en-US" } }, { "id": 246835, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402390, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.mov", "filename": "12989_Eta_Car_CosmicRay_ProRes_1080.mov", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "Zoom into Eta Carinae, where the outflows of two massive stars collide and shoot accelerated particles cosmic rays into space.Credit: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center Music: \"Expectant Aspect\" from Killer Tracks.Watch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.Complete transcript available.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 326256, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12989/#media_group_326256", "widget": "Basic text with HTML", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "A new study using data from NASA’s NuSTAR space telescope suggests that the most luminous and massive stellar system within 10,000 light-years, Eta Carinae, is accelerating particles to high energies -- some of which may reach Earth as cosmic rays.

Cosmic rays with energies greater than 1 billion electron volts (eV) come to us from beyond our solar system. But because these particles -- electrons, protons and atomic nuclei -- all carry an electrical charge, they veer off course whenever they encounter magnetic fields. This scrambles their paths and masks their origins.

Eta Carinae, located about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina, contains a pair of massive stars whose eccentric orbits bring them unusually close every 5.5 years. The stars contain 90 and 30 times the mass of our Sun.

Both stars drive powerful outflows called stellar winds, which emit low-energy X-rays where they collide. NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope observes gamma rays -- light packing far more energy than X-rays -- from a source in the direction of Eta Carinae. But Fermi’s vision isn’t as sharp as X-ray telescopes, so astronomers couldn’t confirm the connection.

To bridge this gap, astronomers turned to NASA's NuSTAR observatory. Launched in 2012, NuSTAR can focus X-rays of much greater energy than any previous telescope. The team examined NuSTAR observations acquired between March 2014 and June 2016, along with lower-energy X-ray observations from the European Space Agency’s XMM-Newton satellite over the same period.

NuSTAR detects a source emitting X-rays above 30,000 eV, some three times higher than can be explained by shock waves in the colliding winds. For comparison, the energy of visible light ranges from about 2 to 3 eV.

The researchers say both the X-ray emission seen by NuSTAR and the gamma-ray emission seen by Fermi is best explained by electrons accelerated in shock waves where the winds collide. The X-rays detected by NuSTAR and the gamma rays detected by Fermi arise from starlight given a huge energy boost by interactions with these electrons.

Some of the superfast electrons, as well as other accelerated particles, must escape the system and perhaps some eventually wander to Earth, where they may be detected as cosmic rays.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 326258, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12989/#media_group_326258", "widget": "Single image", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Eta Carinae shines in X-rays in this image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The colors indicate different energies. Red spans 300 to 1,000 electron volts (eV), green ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 eV and blue covers 3,000 to 10,000 eV. For comparison, the energy of visible light is about 2 to 3 eV. NuSTAR observations (green contours) reveal a source of X-rays with energies some three times higher than Chandra detects. X-rays seen from the central point source arise from the binary’s stellar wind collision. The NuSTAR detection shows that shock waves in the wind collision zone accelerate charged particles like electrons and protons to near the speed of light. Some of these may reach Earth, where they will be detected as cosmic ray particles. X-rays scattered by debris ejected in Eta Carinae's famous 1840 eruption may produce the broader red emission.

Credit: NASA/CXC and NASA/JPL-Caltech ", "items": [ { "id": 246845, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": null, "instance": { "id": 402398, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a012900/a012989/NuSTAR_contours_Eta_Car.png", "filename": "NuSTAR_contours_Eta_Car.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Eta Carinae shines in X-rays in this image from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. The colors indicate different energies. Red spans 300 to 1,000 electron volts (eV), green ranges from 1,000 to 3,000 eV and blue covers 3,000 to 10,000 eV. For comparison, the energy of visible light is about 2 to 3 eV. NuSTAR observations (green contours) reveal a source of X-rays with energies some three times higher than Chandra detects. X-rays seen from the central point source arise from the binary’s stellar wind collision. 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By the time the particles reach us, their paths can be completely scrambled, and astronomers cannot trace them back to their sources. Gamma rays — including those produced by cosmic rays interacting with interstellar matter — instead travel straight to us from their sources.Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } }, { "id": 13244, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13244/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Hubble’s Brand New Image of Eta Carinae", "description": "In the mid-1800s, mariners sailing the southern seas navigated at night by a brilliant star in the constellation Carina. The star, named Eta Carinae, was the second brightest star in the sky for more than a decade. Those mariners could hardly have imagined that by the mid-1860s the brilliant orb would no longer be visible. Eta Carinae was enveloped by a cloud of dust ejected during a violent outburst named “The Great Eruption.” Because of Eta Carinae's violent history, astronomers have kept watch over its activities. Although Hubble has monitored the volatile superstar for 25 years, it still is uncovering new revelations. Using Hubble to map the ultraviolet-light glow of magnesium embedded in warm gas, astronomers were surprised to discover the gas in places they had not seen it before. For more information, visit https://nasa.gov/hubble Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/Paul Morris.Music credits: \"Transcode\" by Lee Groves [PRS], and Peter George Marett [PRS]; Killer Tracks Production Music || ", "release_date": "2019-07-01T09:55:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:45:51.187206-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 394784, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a013200/a013244/13244-Eta_car_SVS_SEARCH_WEB_THUMBNAIL.jpg", "filename": "13244-Eta_car_SVS_SEARCH_WEB_THUMBNAIL.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Master VersionHorizontal version. This is for use on any YouTube or non-YouTube platform where you want to display the video horizontally.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } } ], "sources": [ { "id": 11722, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11722/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Supercomputer Simulations of Eta Carinae", "description": "Density simulation. This movie shows a wide view of the system looking down on the orbital plane of the two stars, which are located at the center. The view spans 3,200 times the average distance between Earth and the sun, or 298 billion miles (478 billion kilometers). Lighter colors indicate greater densities, with the highest densities occurring near the primary and in the wind interaction region. The faster wind of the smaller star carves a spiral cavity into the dense wind of the primary star, and this structure expands outward with the primary wind at about 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h. || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar_print.jpg (1024x1024) [84.9 KB] || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar.png (4096x4096) [2.8 MB] || R100_density_xy_axes_and_colorbar_web.jpg (320x320) [17.8 KB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024_searchweb.png (320x180) [57.8 KB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024.mov (1024x1024) [3.8 MB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024.webm (1024x1024) [2.4 MB] || Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_4k.mov (4096x4096) [876.4 MB] || ", "release_date": "2015-01-07T13:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-06-23T00:17:00.804454-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 447873, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011700/a011722/Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024_searchweb.png", "filename": "Eta_Car_R100_Density_XY_H264_Good_1024x1024_searchweb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Density simulation. This movie shows a wide view of the system looking down on the orbital plane of the two stars, which are located at the center. The view spans 3,200 times the average distance between Earth and the sun, or 298 billion miles (478 billion kilometers). Lighter colors indicate greater densities, with the highest densities occurring near the primary and in the wind interaction region. The faster wind of the smaller star carves a spiral cavity into the dense wind of the primary star, and this structure expands outward with the primary wind at about 1 million mph (1.6 million km/h.", "width": 320, "height": 180, "pixels": 57600 } }, { "id": 11568, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/11568/", "page_type": "Produced Video", "title": "Eta Carinae's Homunculus Nebula Now in 3D", "description": "An international team of astronomers has developed a 3D model of a giant cloud ejected by the massive binary system Eta Carinae during its 19th century outburst. Eta Carinae lies about 7,500 light-years away in the southern constellation of Carina and is one of the most massive binary systems astronomers can study in detail. The smaller star is about 30 times the mass of the sun and may be as much as a million times more luminous. The primary star contains about 90 solar masses and emits 5 million times the sun's energy output. Both stars are fated to end their lives in spectacular supernova explosions.Between 1838 and 1845, Eta Carinae underwent a period of unusual variability during which it briefly outshone Canopus, normally the second-brightest star. As a part of this event, which astronomers call the Great Eruption, a gaseous shell containing at least 10 and perhaps as much as 40 times the sun's mass was shot into space. This material forms a twin-lobed dust-filled cloud known as the Homunculus Nebula, which is now about a light-year long and continues to expand at more than 1.3 million mph (2.1 million km/h). Using the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope and its X-Shooter spectrograph, the team imaged near-infrared, visible and ultraviolet wavelengths along 92 separate swaths across the nebula, making the most complete spectral map to date. The researchers have used the spatial and velocity information provided by this data to create the first high-resolution 3D model of the Homunculus Nebula.The shape model was developed using only a single emission line of near-infrared light emitted by molecular hydrogen gas. The characteristic 2.12-micron light shifts in wavelength slightly depending on the speed and direction of the expanding gas, allowing the team to probe even dust-obscured portions of the Homunculus that face away from Earth. || ", "release_date": "2014-07-08T10:00:00-04:00", "update_date": "2023-05-03T13:50:45.782762-04:00", "main_image": { "id": 454554, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a010000/a011500/a011568/EtaCarinae_STILL.png", "filename": "EtaCarinae_STILL.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This animation sequence zooms into a Hubble image of the Homunculus Nebula, then dissolves to the shape model, which rotates to provide views from various angles. Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/CI LabWatch this video on the NASA Goddard YouTube channel.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }