| NASA Center: |
Hubble Space Telescope Center |
|---|
| Image # : |
PR99-12 |
|---|
| Date : |
04/01/1999
|
|---|
|
Title
Stars in the Tarantula Nebula
Full Description
In the most active starburst region in the local universe lies a
cluster of brilliant, massive stars, known to astronomers as Hodge 301.
Hodge 301, seen in the lower right hand corner of this image, lives
inside the Tarantula Nebula in our galactic neighbor, the Large
Magellanic Cloud.
This star cluster is not the brightest, or youngest, or most populous
star cluster in the Tarantula Nebula, that honor goes to the
spectacular R136. In fact, Hodge 301 is almost 10 times older than the
young cluster R136. But age has its advantages; many of the stars in
Hodge 301 are so old that they have exploded as supernovae. These
exploded stars are blasting material out into the surrounding region at
speeds of almost 200 miles per second. This high speed ejecta are
plowing into the surrounding Tarantula Nebula, shocking and compressing
the gas into a multitude of sheets and filaments, seen in the upper
left portion of the picture.
Hodge 301 contains three red supergiants - stars that are close to the
end of their evolution and are about to go supernova, exploding and
sending more shocks into the Tarantula. Also present near the center of
the image are small, dense gas globules and dust columns where new
stars are being formed today, as part of the overall ongoing star
formation throughout the Tarantula region.
Keywords
Hubble Space Telescope HST Hodge 301 Tarantula Nebula Large R136 Supernova
Subject Category
Deep Space Studies, Hubble,
Reference Numbers
- Center:
HSTI
- Center Number:
PR99-12
- GRIN DataBase Number:
GPN-2000-000946
Source Information
- Creator/Photographer: NASA, The Hubble Heritage Team, STScI, AURA
- Original Source: DIGITAL
| Resolution | Format | Width
(Pixels) | Height
(Pixels) | Size
(KBytes) |
Thumbnail |
.jpg |
65 |
65 |
12 |
Small |
.jpg |
459 |
464 |
292 |
Medium |
.jpg |
1076 |
1087 |
1,617 |
Large |
.jpg |
1076 |
1087 |
1,616 |
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Updated October 31, 2002
• History Questions: NASA History Office
• Responsible NASA Official: Steve Garber
• Author: Michael Hahn. Editor: Dwayne A. Day
• Curator & Technical Questions: Erin Needham
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