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This is an actual photograph of a star going supernova, taken by the Hubble Telescope /r/pics (i.imgur.com)

submitted ago by [deleted]

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[–]KonaEarth 3 points4 points ago

Too bad there's no source with this picture. If memory serves me and I recognize the picture correctly, this is Eta Carinae.

Indeed! Ask Google and it finds a nearly identical picture taken in 1996: APOD

[–]yoda17 1 point2 points ago

Eta Carinae it is. I used to have this poster on my wall (purchased at the VLA at that!).

[–]lucasvb 1 point2 points ago

Not really accurate. It went supernova years ago. This is the gas cloud created by the event.

[–]hatperigee 0 points1 point ago

It supposedly went supernova, but Eta_Carinae still remains..

[–]lucasvb 1 point2 points ago

Oh, right, this is Eta Carina. Then it's just one of the outbursts before it goes nova, from here.

[–]ThatSymmetricBubble 0 points1 point ago

The star hasn't probably gone supernova yet, its just really massive and incredibly unstable and tends to go nova often.

[–]BadAstronomer 2 points3 points ago

This is correct. It hasn't gone supernova, it had a huge eruptive event 150 years ago, creating those lobes. I've written about it, and I imagine you can get good info on wikipedia. The image is from Hubble, so search on that if you want to learn more!

[–]Razzamanazz 0 points1 point ago

Can someone explain the shape? I'm having trouble picturing an explosive event that would produce two spherical clouds side by side like that.