30 Doradus in Ultraviolet, Visible, and Red Light
This image of hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm glowing clouds is the most detailed view of the largest stellar nursery in our local galactic neighborhood. The stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun.
The image, taken in ultraviolet, visible, and red light by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3, spans about 100 light-years. The nebula is close enough to Earth that Hubble can resolve individual stars, giving astronomers important information about the birth and evolution of stars in the universe.
Credit:NASA, ESA, F. Paresce (INAF-IASF, Bologna, Italy), R. O'Connell (University of Virginia, Charlottesville), and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee
About the Image
Id: | opo0932c |
Type: | Observation |
Release date: | 15 December 2009, 15:00 |
Size: | 2981 x 2981 px |
About the Object
Name: | 30 Doradus |
Type: | Local Universe : Nebula |
Distance: | 170000 light years |
Constellation: | Dorado |
Category: | Nebulae |
Coordinates
Position (RA): | 5 38 47.49 |
Position (Dec): | -69° 5' 50.55" |
Field of view: | 1.97 x 1.97 arcminutes |
Orientation: | North is 14.3° left of vertical |
Colours & filters
Band | Wavelength | Telescope |
---|---|---|
Ultraviolet U | 336 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical B | 438 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical V | 555 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Infrared I | 814 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |
Optical H-alpha | 656 nm |
Hubble Space Telescope
WFC3 |