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8th of January 2016
Eta Carina, a massive binary star
Eta Carinae is one of the most massive stars in our Galaxy. It underwent a massive outburst in the 1840s, during which is became the brightest star in the night sky. Now, however, it is shrouded by the dust ejected during that outburst. Eta Carinae is believed to one of a twin (or binary) star system, with the two stars revolving around each other in 5.5 years. The interaction between the two stars leads to a 5.5-year cycle in the appearance of the system.

The movie above shows the changes in the spatial distribution of the radio emission from Eta Carinae with time, as measured with the Australia Telescope Compact Array at a wavelength of 3cm (by S. White and R. Duncan). It shows images every two months simulated using images from 28 different epochs from June 1992 to June 2007, with a spatial resolution of order 0.3 arcseconds.


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