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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.

See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available.

Star Cluster R136 Breaks Out

Explanation: In the center of nearby star-forming region lies a huge cluster containing some of the largest, hottest, and most massive stars known. These stars, known collectively as star cluster R136 , part of the Tarantula Nebula, were captured in the featured image in visible light in 2009 through the Hubble Space Telescope . Gas and dust clouds in the Tarantula Nebula , have been sculpted into elongated shape s by powerful winds and ultraviolet radiation from these hot cluster stars. The Tarantula Nebula lies within a neighboring galaxy known as the Large Magellanic Cloud and is located a mere 170,000 light-years away.

Date January 10, 2021
Credit Image Credit: NASA , ESA , & F. Paresce ( INAF-IASF ), R. O'Connell ( U. Virginia ) et al.
Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)
A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,
NASA Science Activation & Michigan Tech. U.