A Short Flight through The Tarantula Nebula in Dorado | Hubble

A Short Flight through The Tarantula Nebula in Dorado | Hubble

This video shows a short flight through the Tarantula Nebula, a star formation region located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion of the Milky Way. At only 161,000 light-years away, the Tarantula Nebula is the largest and brightest star-forming region in the Local Group, the galaxies nearest our Milky Way. It is home to the hottest, most massive stars known.

More than 800,000 stars and protostars are embedded in this gigantic stellar nursery. In addition to the stars, the nebula contains several supernova remnants, indicators that the most massive stars of the cluster already exploded. The nebula is indedd one of the largest and most active star formation regions in the Local Group. Its high activity can be explained due to its position on the leading edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud, where ram pressure stripping occurs and the interstellar medium in the nebula is compressed. In addition it is probably also fed by gas that was stripped off from the Small Magellanic Cloud.

In 1987, the Tarantula Nebula became the center of attention within the astronomical community when a supernova exploded. It was the closest supernova to Earth since 1604.

Credit: Theofanis N. Matsopoulos/ESA
Duration: 20 seconds
Release Date: July 17, 2014

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