Eta Carinae light echo region — 10 March 2003

The double-star system Eta Carinae, about 120 times more massive than the Sun, produced a spectacular outburst that was seen on Earth from 1837 to 1858. This image shows an area near Eta Carinae that is not illuminated by the double-star system's outburst. The image was taken in March 2003 with the NOAO Optical Astronomy Observatory's Blanco 4-metre telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.