"NASA's Chandra Unveils Secrets of 1840s Great Eruption"
NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory has provided new insights into the Great Eruption of Eta Carinae, a stellar explosion witnessed on Earth in the 1840s. Using data spanning two decades, astronomers created a movie that shows the expansion of the eruption at speeds up to 4.5 million miles per hour. The observations reveal a faint shell of X-rays outside the Homunculus Nebula, suggesting a common origin. The study also suggests that the Great Eruption consisted of two explosions, with the first ejection of low-density gas creating the X-ray blast wave, followed by the slower ejection of dense gas forming the Homunculus Nebula.