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Tarantula Nebula (NIRSpec IFU)

Infographic titled Tarantula Nebula: Star Formation Revealed. Left label NIRCam imaging above near-infrared image of the Tarantula Nebula from Webb telescope. Pop-out from this image to the right zooms in to small bubble area in nebula. Pop-out from this to the right breaks down component colors in a square angled away from viewer: blue, green, red, and combination of all three. Label above color breakdown reads NIRSpec IFU Spectroscopy. Lines lead down from each color breakdown to a pixelated image of the region in a face-on square. Blue labeled atomic hydrogen, caption 1.87 microns wavelength of light. Blue shows a dot in a dark bubble with diffuse blue on the outside of the bubble. Green labeled molecular hydrogen, 2.12 microns wavelength of light. Green shows bubble mostly filled, dark outside of bubble. Red labeled hydrocarbon dust, 3.3 microns wavelength of light. Red shows bubble filled with two bright spots, mostly black outside the bubble, except for one defined red spot.

Webb’s Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) reveals what is really going on in an intriguing region of the Tarantula Nebula. Astronomers focused the powerful instrument on what looked like a small bubble feature in the image from Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). However, the spectra reveal a very different picture from a young star blowing a bubble in its surrounding gas.

The signature of atomic hydrogen, shown in blue, shows up in the star itself but not immediately surrounding it. Instead, it appears outside the “bubble,” which spectra show is actually “filled” with molecular hydrogen (green) and complex hydrocarbons (red). This indicates that the bubble is actually the top of a dense pillar of dust and gas that is being blasted by radiation from the cluster of massive young stars to its lower right (see the full NIRCam image). It does not appear as pillar-like as some other structures in the nebula because there is not much color contrast with the area surrounding it. 

The harsh stellar wind from the massive young stars in the nebula is breaking apart molecules outside the pillar, but inside they are preserved, forming a cushy cocoon for the star. This star is still too young to be clearing out its surroundings by blowing bubbles – NIRSpec has captured it just beginning to emerge from the protective cloud from which it was formed. Without Webb’s resolution at infrared wavelengths, the discovery of this star birth in action would not have been possible. 

NIRSpec was built for the European Space Agency (ESA) by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defence and Space (ADS) with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems.

About the Object

  • R.A. Position
    R.A. PositionRight ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position.
    05:38:42.4
  • Dec. Position
    Dec. PositionDeclination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position.
    -69:06:03.35
  • Constellation
    ConstellationOne of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears.
    Dorado
  • Distance
    DistanceThe physical distance from Earth to the astronomical object. Distances within our solar system are usually measured in Astronomical Units (AU). Distances between stars are usually measured in light-years. Interstellar distances can also be measured in parsecs.
    170,000 light-years (52,000 parsecs)

About the Data

  • Data Description
    Data DescriptionProposal: A description of the observations, their scientific justification, and the links to the data available in the science archive.
    Science Team: The astronomers who planned the observations and analyzed the data. "PI" refers to the Principal Investigator.

    This image was created from JWST data from proposal: 2729. It is part of Webb Early Release Observations. The Early Release Observations and associated materials were developed, executed, and compiled by the ERO production team: Jaclyn Barrientes, Claire Blome, Hannah Braun, Matthew Brown, Margaret Carruthers, Dan Coe, Joseph DePasquale, Nestor Espinoza, Macarena Garcia Marin, Karl Gordon, Alaina Henry, Leah Hustak, Andi James, Ann Jenkins, Anton Koekemoer, Stephanie LaMassa, David Law, Alexandra Lockwood, Amaya Moro-Martin, Susan Mullally, Alyssa Pagan, Dani Player, Klaus Pontoppidan, Charles Proffitt, Christine Pulliam, Leah Ramsay, Swara Ravindranath, Neill Reid, Massimo Robberto, Elena Sabbi, Leonardo Ubeda. The EROs were also made possible by the foundational efforts and support from the JWST instruments, STScI planning and scheduling, Data Management teams, and Office of Public Outreach.

  • Instrument
    InstrumentThe science instrument used to produce the data.
    NIRSpec
  • Exposure Dates
    Exposure DatesThe date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time.
    2 June 2022
  • Object Name
    Object NameA name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object.
    Tarantula Nebula, 30 Doradus, 30 Dor, NGC 2070
  • Object Description
    Object DescriptionThe type of astronomical object.
    Emission Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud
  • Release Date
    September 6, 2022
  • Science Release
    A Cosmic Tarantula, Caught by NASA’s Webb
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Illustration: NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

Downloads

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    tif (19.86 MB)
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    png (5.1 MB)
  • Half Res (For Display), 1773 × 1983
    png (1.88 MB)

Related Images & Videos

Tan-colored nebula clouds with rust-colored highlights, surrounding a black central area containing a bright cluster of sparkling pale blue stars that scatter outward from a densely packed center. One bright yellow star stands out in the central open area, with eight long thin points.

Tarantula Nebula (NIRCam Image)

In this mosaic image stretching 340 light-years across, Webb’s Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) displays the Tarantula Nebula star-forming region in a new light, including tens of thousands of never-before-seen young stars that were previously shrouded in cosmic dust. The most...

Wispy pale yellow nebula clouds highlighted with bright blue, purple and pink, surrounding a large black cavity. A few small blue stars are sprinkled at the right edge of the cavity and in the cloud. There are a few occasional bright pink spots and larger, brighter white stars. One large clump of blue dust floats amid the small blue stars. One large blue star is alone at the top of cavity, with short blue spikes and snowflake-like arms. A couple other stars in the cloud also appear like tiny snowflakes instead of points of light.

Tarantula Nebula (MIRI Image)

At the longer wavelengths of light captured by its Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), Webb focuses on the area surrounding the central star cluster and unveils a very different view of the Tarantula Nebula. In this light, the young hot stars of the cluster fade in brilliance, and...

Two nebula images side by side with the same basic shapes and structures but different coloring and details. Image on left has tan clouds with rust-colored highlights, surrounding a black central area containing a bright cluster of sparkling pale blue stars that scatter outward from a densely packed center. One bright yellow star stands out in the central open area, with eight long thin points. The image on the right has clouds in the same basic formation but brighter and thinner. Areas are highlighted with bright blue, purple and ghostly pink. The bright cluster of stars is noticeably absent, with only a few blue specs remaining. One clump of cloud stands out bright blue in the cluster area- in the left-hand image it is less noticeable in the midst of the bright stars as a rust-colored cloud. The one star alone in the open area still stands out, but it appears small and blue, with its eight star points very small instead of elongated like in the left-hand image.

Two Views of the Tarantula Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI images)

A side-by-side display of the same region of the Tarantula Nebula brings out the distinctions between Webb’s near-infrared (closer to visible red, left) and mid-infrared (further from visible red, right) images. Each portion of the electromagnetic spectrum reveals and conceals...

Image titled James Webb Space Telescope, Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070. Graphic elements added to image are compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. Image shows Tan-colored nebula clouds with rust-colored highlights, surrounding a black central area containing a bright cluster of sparkling pale blue stars that scatter outward from a densely packed center. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points in the 11 o'clock direction. The east arrow points toward 8 o'clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 50 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-eighth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which NIRCam filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, NIRCam filters are: F090W is blue, F200W is green, F335M is orange, F444W is red.

Tarantula Nebula (NIRCam Compass Image)

North and east compass arrows show the orientation of the Tarantula Nebula image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above). The scale bar is...

Image titled James Webb Space Telescope, Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070. Graphic elements added to image are compass arrows, scale bar, and color key. Image shows wispy pale yellow nebula clouds highlighted with bright blue, purple and pink, surrounding a large black cavity. A few small blue stars are sprinkled at the right edge of the cavity and in the cloud. At the bottom left are compass arrows indicating the orientation of the image on the sky. The north arrow points straight up to 12 o'clock. The east arrow points straight left to 9 o’clock. At the lower right is a scale bar labeled 25 light-years. The length of the scale bar is about one-sixth the total width of the image. Below the image is a color key showing which MIRI filters were used to create the image and which visible-light color is assigned to each filter. From left to right, MIRI filters are: F770W is dark blue, F1000W is light blue, F1280W is green, F1800W is red.

30 Doradus (MIRI Compass Image)

North and east compass arrows show the orientation of the Tarantula Nebula image on the sky. Note that the relationship between north and east on the sky (as seen from below) is flipped relative to direction arrows on a map of the ground (as seen from above). The scale bar is...

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Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Illustration Credit

NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Webb ERO Production Team

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