The star AG Carinae lies within the constellation Carina in the southern sky, approximately 20,000 light-years distant from Earth. Also known as HD 94910, the star is a few million years old and its expected lifespan is between 5 and 6 million years.
It is classified as a luminous blue variable, evolved massive stars that will become Wolf-Rayet stars, a type of stars that are tens of thousands to several million times more luminous than the Sun.
As we can see in the image, it is surrounded by a spectacular nebula, about 5 light years wide, formed by material ejected by the star during several of its outbursts in the past. Although the nebula looks like a ring, it is a hollow layer rich in gas and dust, the center of which has been cleared by the powerful stellar wind traveling at approximately 200 km / s.
The blue color evidences the higher contrast aspect of the distribution of the dust that shines from the reflected starlight.
This new image of the star AG Carinae, one of the most luminous stars in the Milky Way, despite being so bright, is so far away and its interstellar dust is so voluminous that it is impossible to see it with the naked eye from our night sky.
