Wikipedia:Today's featured article/requests/Eta Carinae

Eta Carinae[edit]

This is the archived discussion of the TFAR nomination for the article below. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as Wikipedia talk:Today's featured article/requests). Please do not modify this page.

The result was: scheduled for Wikipedia:Today's featured article/March 12, 2017 by — Chris Woodrich (talk) 03:02, 23 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Eta Carinae is a stellar system containing at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun, located around 7500 light-years (2300 parsecs) distant in the constellation Carina. First recorded as a 4th-magnitude star, it brightened considerably over the period 1837 to 1856 in an event known as the Great Eruption. Eta Carinae became the second-brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility. It has brightened consistently since about 1940, peaking above magnitude 4.5 in 2014. Eta Carinae is circumpolar south of latitude 30°S, so it is never visible north of latitude 30°N. The two main stars of the Eta Carinae system have an eccentric orbit with a period of 5.54 years. The primary is a peculiar star similar to a luminous blue variable (LBV) that was initially 150–250 M_☉ of which it has lost at least 30 M_☉ already, and is expected to explode as a supernova in the astronomically near future. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, probably of spectral class O, around 30–80 times as massive as the Sun. The system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption. (Full article...)

Most recent similar article(s): February 15, 2017 - Epsilon Eridani
Main editors: Lithopsian, Casliber
Promoted: July 26, 2015
Reasons for nomination: Great Eruption was 11-14 March 1843
Support as nominator. Cas Liber (talk · contribs) 04:37, 3 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Support: top importance article for WP:SPACE, and a very interesting science topic. Praemonitus (talk) 00:40, 18 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]
Support Ceoil (talk) 09:04, 18 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]