Space Shot of the Day: Explosions in the Sky

Eta Carinae's billowing pair of gas and dust clouds as seen from NASA Hubble Space Telescope. About 160 years ago, the stellar system suffered a giant outburst and became one of the brightest stars in the southern sky. Although the star released as much visible light as a supernova explosion, it survived the outburst, producing two lobes and a large, thin equatorial disk that are moving outward at about 1 million kilometers per hour.