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>> HUBBLE IS CELEBRATING
INDEPENDENCE DAY WITH ONE
GIANT FIREWORK!

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>> At 7,500 light-years away,
Eta Carinae is a star system
that’s fascinated astronomers since its 1677 discovery.

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>> Eta Carinae’s
brightness inexplicably changed
over time. Then, in the

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mid-1800s, it briefly became one
of the brightest objects 
in the sky. 

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>> The possible cause of this
“Great Eruption?” Eta Carinae
might’ve had 3 stars orbiting each other...

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>> As STAR A aged and swelled,
STAR B began pulling material
from it, changing the orbits of all 3 stars.

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 >> STAR A was flung away,
and STAR C crashed into STAR B,
igniting the Great Eruption.

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>> Yet the blast didn't destroy
Eta Carinae... The star system
somehow survived. 

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>> The Great Eruption created
the Homunculus Nebula: Two giant
clouds rushing from the blast.

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>> Hubble has since made
hundreds of observations of Eta
Carinae.

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>> But new ultraviolet-light
images captured something that
stunned scientists! 

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>>Astronomers found magnesium
gas (shown in blue) where they'd
expected empty space.

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>> Studying this
fast-moving “outer ejecta” will
help us understand how the Great Eruption began.

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>> Hubble's ultraviolet
explorations help us study the
universe's most massive stars, like Eta Carinae.

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>> Eventually Eta Carinae will
go supernova, but nobody knows
when. 

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>> When it finally does,
it’s guaranteed to be a
fireworks show for the ages!

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[INTENSE MUSIC]