Chandra X-ray Observatory Center Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics 60 Garden St. Cambridge, MA 02138 USA http://chandra.harvard.edu

Eta Carinae: A star between 100 and 150 more massive than the Sun, about 7,500 light years from Earth. (Credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/GSFC/M.Corcoran et al.; Optical: NASA/STScI) Caption: This composite image of Eta Carinae from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope shows the remnants of a massive eruption from the star during the 1840s. The X-ray data (yellow) show where material from that explosion has collided with nearby gas and dust. The optical data (blue) reveals material ejected from the star has formed a bipolar structure. Chandra detects a faint X-ray reflection off the inner optical nebula due to the collision of stellar winds between Eta Carinae and a suspected companion star. Scale: Image is 2.2 by 1.7 arcmin Chandra X-ray Observatory ACIS Image CXC operated for NASA by the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory