>> HUBBLE IS CELEBRATING INDEPENDENCE DAY WITH ONE GIANT FIREWORK!
>> At 7,500 light-years away, Eta Carinae is a star system that’s fascinated astronomers since its 1677 discovery.
>> Eta Carinae’s brightness inexplicably changed over time. Then, in the
mid-1800s, it briefly became one of the brightest objects in the sky.
>> The possible cause of this “Great Eruption?” Eta Carinae might’ve had 3 stars orbiting each other...
>> As STAR A aged and swelled, STAR B began pulling material from it, changing the orbits of all 3 stars.
>> STAR A was flung away, and STAR C crashed into STAR B, igniting the Great Eruption.
>> Yet the blast didn't destroy Eta Carinae... The star system somehow survived.
>> The Great Eruption created the Homunculus Nebula: Two giant clouds rushing from the blast.
>> Hubble has since made hundreds of observations of Eta Carinae.
>> But new ultraviolet-light images captured something that stunned scientists!
>>Astronomers found magnesium gas (shown in blue) where they'd expected empty space.
>> Studying this fast-moving “outer ejecta” will help us understand how the Great Eruption began.
>> Hubble's ultraviolet explorations help us study the universe's most massive stars, like Eta Carinae.
>> Eventually Eta Carinae will go supernova, but nobody knows when.
>> When it finally does, it’s guaranteed to be a fireworks show for the ages!
[INTENSE MUSIC]