Jan 08, 2015 11:54 AM EST By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Astrophysicists with NASA have observed two massive, explosive stars in space and generated a 3-D model based on their findings.

Described as a "stellar monster," Eta Carinae are two stars are locked in orbit and become closer to one another every five years. Presented at the American Astronomical Society's (AAS) annual meeting in Seattle, the Goddard Space Flight Center researchers detailed their findings.

According to BBC News, Eta Carinae is 7,500 light years from Earth and is situated in the Carina constellation. The Homunculus Nebula was the product of a massive explosion from Eta Carinae in the 1840s, causing the star to burn as bright as any star in the sky at the time.

"We are coming to understand the present state and complex environment of this remarkable object, but we have a long way to go to explain Eta Carinae's past eruptions or to predict its future behavior," Ted Gull, a Goddard astrophysicist who has led observations on the star for more than 10 years, said in a press release.

Eta Carinae is 90 times the size of the sun in the middle of our solar system and its counterpart is just three times smaller. Their orbit is a bit catawampus and are not consistent with one another, which generates solar winds between the two.

"You can imagine a six-million mile per hour object smacking in, and decelerating to zero quite rapidly. That would generate quite a lot of energy," Michael Corcoran, a Goddard scientist, said at the AAS meeting, according to BBC News. "What we think is happening is, as the stars approach each other... the X-rays brighten because the winds get more dense."

Another member of the Goddard team, Tom Madura made a supercomputer simulation of Eta Carinae and then used a 3-D printer to make a physical model. The 3-D parts are available for download and members of the public can download them and construct the pieces for themselves.

"We've had 100,000 downloads," Gull told BBC News. As for what will eventually happen with the stars, he said, "It's going to be a source of daylight comparable to the moon - but a point source."

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