Free Astronomy Magazine November-December 2016

T his mosaic shows the Carina Nebula (left part of the im- age), home of the Eta Carinae star system. This part was observed with the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2- metre telescope at ESO’s La Silla Observatory. The middle part shows the direct surrounding of the star system: the Homuncu- lus Nebula, created by the ejected material from the Eta Cari- nae system. This image was taken with the NACO near-infrared adaptive optics instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope. The right image shows the innermost part of the system as seen with the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI). It is the highest resolution image of Eta Carinae ever. [ESO/G. Weigelt] increase in resolving power in comparison to a sin- gle VLT Unit Telescope. This delivered the sharpest ever image of the system and yielded unexpected results about its internal structures. The new VLTI image clearly depict the structure which exists be- tween the two Eta Carinae-stars. An unexpected fan-shaped structure was observed where the raging wind from the smaller, hotter star crashes into the denser wind from the larger of the pair. “Our dreams came true, because we can now get extremely sharp images in the infra- red. The VLTI provides us with a unique opportu- 32 SPACE CHRONICLES