J.D. Harrington
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-5241
j.d.harrington@nasa.gov
Ray Villard / Cheryl Gundy
Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, Md.
410-338-4514 / 410-338-4707
villard@stsci.edu / gundy@stsci.edu
RELEASE: 12-117
HUBBLE'S 22ND ANNIVERSARY IMAGE SHOWS TURBULENT STAR-MAKING REGION
WASHINGTON -- Several million young stars are vying for attention in a
new NASA Hubble Space Telescope image of a raucous stellar breeding
ground in 30 Doradus, a star-forming complex located in the heart of
the Tarantula nebula.
The new image comprises one of the largest mosaics ever assembled from
Hubble photos and includes observations taken by Hubble's Wide Field
Camera 3 and Advanced Camera for Surveys. NASA and the Space
Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore released the image
today in celebration of Hubble's 22nd anniversary.
"Hubble is the world's premiere science instrument for making
celestial observations, which allow us to unravel the mysteries of
the universe," said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington and three-time
Hubble repair astronaut. "In recognition of Hubble's 22nd birthday,
the new image of the 30 Doradus region, the birth place for new
stars, is more than a fitting anniversary image."
30 Doradus is the brightest star-forming region in our galactic
neighborhood and home to the most massive stars ever seen. The nebula
is 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small
satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. No known star-forming region in
our galaxy is as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus.
Collectively, the stars in the image are millions of times more
massive than our sun. The image is roughly 650 light-years across and
contains some rambunctious stars, including one of the fastest
rotating stars and the highest velocity stars ever observed by
astronomers.
The nebula is close enough to Earth that Hubble can resolve individual
stars, giving astronomers important information about the stars'
birth and evolution. Many small galaxies have more spectacular
starbursts, but the Large Magellanic Cloud's 30 Doradus is one of the
only star-forming regions that astronomers can study in detail. The
star-birthing frenzy in 30 Doradus may be fueled partly by its close
proximity to its companion galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud.
The image reveals the stages of star birth, from embryonic stars a few
thousand years old and still wrapped in cocoons of dark gas, to
behemoths that die young in supernova explosions. 30 Doradus churns
out stars at a furious pace over millions of years. Hubble shows star
clusters of various ages, from about 2 million to 25 million years
old.
The region's sparkling centerpiece is a giant, young star cluster
named NGC 2070, only 2 million to 3 million years old. Its stellar
inhabitants number roughly 500,000. The cluster is a hotbed for
young, massive stars. Its dense core, known as R136, is packed with
some of the heftiest stars found in the nearby universe, weighing
more than 100 times the mass of our sun.
The massive stars are carving deep cavities in the surrounding
material by unleashing a torrent of ultraviolet light, which is
winnowing away the enveloping hydrogen gas cloud in which the stars
were born. The image reveals a fantastic landscape of pillars, ridges
and valleys. Besides sculpting the gaseous terrain, the brilliant
stars may be triggering a successive generation of offspring. When
the ultraviolet radiation hits dense walls of gas, it creates shocks,
which may generate a new wave of star birth.
The image was made using 30 separate fields, 15 from each camera. Both
cameras made these observations simultaneously in October 2011. The
colors in the image represent the hot gas that dominates regions of
the image. Red signifies hydrogen gas and blue represents oxygen.
The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation
between NASA and the European Space Agency. NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., manages the telescope. STScI
conducts Hubble science operations. STScI is operated by the
Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., in
Washington.
For related images, video and more information about Hubble, visit:
and
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