The star Eta Carinae, located 8000 light-years away in the constellation Carina, is an extraordinarily massive star. Containing the mass of 150 suns, it lives in a cocoon of dust and gas that is blown off the star by intense stellar winds. Because of its extreme mass, astronomers consider Eta Carinae a candidate of a nearby gamma ray burst in the not-too-distant future. Because the rotation axis does not point towards us, Earth would most likely be safe when this star explodes. Credit: Nathan Smith (University of California, Berkeley), and NASA (via Wikipedia)