This might be the Before image for a full supernova.
Or it may not. Eta Carinae is about 100 times more massive than our sun, which means it will probably die spectacularly at some point -- maybe today, maybe tomorrow, maybe a million years from now. Those four bright streaks that appear to come from the center of the star are diffraction spikes from the telescope; those two weird lobes surrounding the star are a nebula, the result of a massive eruption almost two hundred years ago that temporarily made Eta Carinae the second brightest star in the Earth sky.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, Hubble; Processing and License: Judy Schmidt
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