The other story linked above says the star in question is Eta Carinae, located in the constellation Carina (right ascension 10 h 45.1 m, declination −59°41m), about 7,500 to 8,000 light-years from The Sun. It is not visible north of, typically, latitude 27°N.
And here a Hubble Snapshot of that bad boy.
As you can see, he's been bad before (1843 - 7,500 to 8,000 years) The resulting nebulae is called the Homunculus Nebula.