Upsilon Carinae (υ Car / υ Carinae) is a star in the constellationCarina. The Pleiades star cluster A star is a massive body of plasma in outer space that is currently producing or has produced energy through nuclear fusion. ... Orion is a remarkable constellation, visible from most places on the globe (but not always the whole year long). ... Carina is the Latin word for keel. ...
It has apparent magnitude 3.01 and is of spectral type A6Ib. The apparent magnitude (m) of a star, planet or other heavenly body is a measure of its apparent brightness; that is, the amount of light received from the object. ... In astronomy, stellar classification is a classification of stars based initially on photospheric temperature and its associated spectral characteristics, and subsequently refined in terms of other characteristics. ...
Eta Carinae has a mass of approximately 150 times that of the sun, and is about 4 million times brighter than our local star, making it one of the most massive and most luminous stars known...
UpsilonCarinae is easily resolved, a pleasant binary of two white stars (visual magnitudes 3.0, 6.0), 127º and separation of 5.0"...
A century ago, Eta Carinae abruptly brightened to an apparent magnitude of -0.8 and was, briefly, the second brightest star in the sky...