Key facts
- Category
- Nebulae
- Object class
- Bipolar nebula
- Composition
- Ionized gas, dust, stellar ejecta
- Scale fact
- 5,500 billion km0.58 lymaximum extent
- Estimated age
- ~180 years
- Host
- Eta Carinae system
Homunculus Nebula
5,500 billion kmmaximum extent
Visual creditHubble 1996 / Nathan Smith (University of California, Berkeley), NASA / ESA / Public domainSource: Wikimedia Commons
Details
The Homunculus Nebula is the compact bipolar ejecta around Eta Carinae, blown out during the Great Eruption of the 1840s. Its twin lobes and thin equatorial skirt preserve that stellar outburst in unusually sharp, small-scale form.
The Homunculus Nebula consists mainly of material expelled from Eta Carinae during the Great Eruption of the 1840s. Its expansion can be traced back to that event, making its roughly 0.58-light-year extent a direct record of less than two centuries of motion.
Most of the ejecta form two opposing lobes with a thinner equatorial structure between them. The geometry shows that the eruption directed material preferentially along an axis rather than releasing it as a spherical shell.
Links
- Editorial guides
- Universe journey
- Orion Arm
- Preset views
- Wikipedia
- Homunculus Nebula on Wikipedia
Size neighbors
Objects near Homunculus Nebula on the scale
On the logarithmic size axis, Homunculus Nebula falls between Cat's Eye Nebula and Ring Nebula. The band uses nearby Nebulae records.
Shared physical scale
8.41ly
Sources
References for Homunculus Nebula
Measurements and descriptive context are compiled by the Scale of Space team from the references below. If you find an error, please let us know.
- Homunculus Nebula — Wikipedia
- Visual reference: Wikimedia Commons (Hubble 1996 / Nathan Smith (University of California, Berkeley), NASA / ESA, Public domain)
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About
Scale of Space is a scroll-based journey through the universe, placing objects on a single logarithmic scale so you can compare size across an unbroken range.
Guides explain selected parts of that range, while focused views filter the objects by subject.