images

Central region of the Tarantula Nebula

by

Nasa/ESA/Novapix

Reference

a-neb20-70020

Date

2009-12-16

The Tarantula is situated 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) in the southern sky and is clearly visible to the naked eye as a large milky patch. To thr right of the image there is a huge cluster of very hot stars called R136. The stars in R136 are also among the most massive stars we know. R136 is also a very young cluster, its oldest stars being `just` 5 million years old or so. Its smallest stars, however, are still forming. The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years. The Hubble observations were taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.