Massive Stars of 30 Doradus
Credit:
J. Trauger (JPL),
J. Westphal (Caltech),
N. Walborn (STScI),
R. Barba' (La Plata Obs.),
NASA
In the center of star-forming region
30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest,
most massive stars known.
These stars and part of the surrounding nebula are captured here in
this gorgeous visible-light
Hubble Space Telescope image.
Gas and dust clouds in 30 Doradus, also known as the
Tarantula Nebula,
have been sculpted into elongated shapes by
powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these
hot cluster stars.
Insets in the picture represent corresponding views from the
Hubble's infrared camera
where each square measures 15.5
light-years across.
Penetrating the obscuring
dust, these infrared images themselves
offer detailed pictures of
star formation within
the nebula's collapsing clouds, revealing
the presence of newborn massive stars.
The 30 Doradus Nebula
lies within a neighboring galaxy,
the Large Magellanic Cloud,
located a mere 170,000 light-years away.