Carinae

Carinae refers to the western end of the southern spur of the Esquiline hill in Rome. This district likely incorporated the earlier Fagutal, the northern tip of the Oppian Hill on its western side; it extended between the Velian Hill and the Clivus Pullius. Its outlook was southwestern, across the swamps of the Palus Ceroliae toward the Aventine.

According to Servius the name of this district comes from the fact the certain buildings standing near the temple of Tellus represented the keels (carinae) of ships. The Murus Terreus also crossed the Carinae. Florus named the Carinae as the "most celebrated part of the city" (celeberrima pars urbis).

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Eta Carinae

Coordinates: 10^h 45^m 03.591^s, −59° 41′ 04.26″

Eta Carinae (abbreviated to η Carinae or η Car), formerly known as Eta Argus, is a stellar system containing at least two stars with a combined luminosity over five million times that of the Sun, located around 7500 light-years (2300 parsecs) distant in the direction of the constellation Carina. First recorded as a 4th magnitude star, it brightened considerably over the period 1837 to 1856 in an event known as the Great Eruption. Eta Carinae became the second brightest star in the sky between 11 and 14 March 1843 before fading well below naked eye visibility. It has brightened consistently since about 1940, peaking above magnitude 4.5 in 2014. Eta Carinae is circumpolar south of latitude 30°S, so it is never visible north of latitude 30°N.

The two main stars of the Eta Carinae system have an eccentric orbit with a period of 5.54 years. The primary is a peculiar star similar to a luminous blue variable (LBV) that initially had at least 150 M_☉ of which it has lost at least 30 M_☉, and is expected to explode as a supernova in the astronomically near future. This is the only star known to produce ultraviolet laser emission. The secondary star is hot and also highly luminous, probably of spectral class O, around 30-80 times as massive as the Sun. The system is heavily obscured by the Homunculus Nebula, material ejected from the primary during the Great Eruption. It is a member of the Trumpler 16 open cluster within the much larger Carina Nebula. Although unrelated to the star or Nebula, the weak Eta Carinids meteor shower has a radiant very close to Eta Carinae.

Theta Carinae

Theta Carinae (θ Car, θ Carinae) is a star in the southern constellation of Carina. With an apparent visual magnitude of 2.76, it is the brightest star in the open star cluster IC 2602. It marks the northeastern end of the Diamond Cross asterism. Parallax measurements from the Hipparcos mission place this star at a distance of about 460 light-years (140 parsecs) from Earth.

In Chinese, 南船 (Nán Chuán), meaning Southern Boat, refers to an asterism consisting of θ Carinae, V337 Carinae, PP Carinae, β Carinae and ω Carinae. Consequently, θ Carinae itself is known as 南船三 (Nán Chuán sān, English: the Third Star of Southern Boat.)

The stellar classification of this star is B0.5 Vp, which indicates this is a B-type main sequence star that is generating energy at its core through the nuclear fusion of hydrogen. The 'p' suffix means it displays peculiar features in its spectrum, which have been observed in both the optical and ultraviolet band. This might be explained by a magnetic field, yet no such measurable field has been observed. Theta Carinae is actually a single-lined spectroscopic binary with a period of 2.2 days; the shortest known orbital period among massive stars. The close orbit means that a mass transfer between the two components may have occurred, which could explain the peculiarities of the spectrum.