The luminous blue variable star
AG Carinae

A radio image of the Luminous Blue Variable star AG Carinae, made with the Australia Telescope. The beautiful ring nebula seen in this image is material which once was part of the outer layers of the star, but was then ejected during a relatively recent period of instability. It is travelling outwards at about 50 kilometers per second. The mass of the nebula is probably several times the mass of our Sun. The star itself is visible as a compact radio source at the center of the nebula.