  During the years 1838-1858, the very massive star {\eta} Carinae became the
prototype supernova impostor: it released nearly as much light as a supernova
explosion and shed an impressive amount of mass, but survived as a star.1 Based
on a light-echo spectrum of that event, Rest et al.2 conclude that "a new
physical mechanism" is required to explain it, because the gas outflow appears
cooler than theoretical expectations. Here we note that (1) theory predicted a
substantially lower temperature than they quoted, and (2) their inferred
observational value is quite uncertain. Therefore, analyses so far do not
reveal any significant contradiction between the observed spectrum and most
previous discussions of the Great Eruption and its physics.
