Astrophysicists studying the unstable "stellar monster" Eta Carinae have revealed new details and a 3D model of the destructive maelstrom at its heart.

Two giant stars are locked in orbit at the centre of an expanding hour-glass of matter they have spewed into space.

Every five years they swing closer together than Mars and our Sun, causing a spike in X-rays we can see on Earth.

A new model of the duelling stellar winds accounts for many of the fluctuations in the system's emissions.

The work, led by researchers at Nasa's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, was presented at the American Astronomical Society's 225th meeting in Seattle.