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APOD
Astronomy Picture of the Day
Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.
Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out
Explanation: In the center of star-forming region 30 Doradus lies a huge cluster of the largest, hottest, most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136 , were captured above in visible light by the newly installed Wide Field Camera peering though the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope . 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. The 30 Doradus Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and is located a mere 170,000 light-years away.
Note: An APOD editor will review great space images on 2010 Jan. 14 in Houghton, Michigan.
| Date | December 21, 2009 |
|---|---|
| Credit | Credit: NASA , ESA , & F. Paresce ( INAF-IASF ), R. O'Connell ( U. Virginia ), & the HST WFC3 Science Oversight Committee |
| Authors & editors: | Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP) |
| A service of: |
ASD at NASA / GSFC, NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U. |