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Large Magellanic Cloud
Copyright: Rafael Defavari
Milky Way, Comet Lovejoy, & the Large Magellan Cloud
Copyright: Luis Argerich
Star Cluster R136 Bursts Out
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.
Credit: NASA, ESA, & F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O’Connell (U. Virginia), & the HST WFC3 Science Oversight Committee
Three Galaxies and Elephant Rock
The Milky Way and Magellanic Clouds (our neighboring satellite galaxies) are photographed in a dark starry night of this rocky coastline near Flinders, Victoria, southeastern Australia.
By Alex Cherney
NGC 2074 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Hubble peered into a small portion of the nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074 (upper, left). The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the most active star-forming regions in our Local Group of galaxies.
The three-dimensional-looking image reveals dramatic ridges and valleys of dust, serpent-head “pillars of creation,” and gaseous filaments glowing fiercely under torrential ultraviolet radiation. The region is on the edge of a dark molecular cloud that is an incubator for the birth of new stars.
NGC 2074 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Hubble peered into a small portion of the nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074 (upper, left). The region is a firestorm of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away near the Tarantula nebula, one of the most active star-forming regions in our Local Group of galaxies.
The three-dimensional-looking image reveals dramatic ridges and valleys of dust, serpent-head “pillars of creation,” and gaseous filaments glowing fiercely under torrential ultraviolet radiation. The region is on the edge of a dark molecular cloud that is an incubator for the birth of new stars.
SN 1987A: Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Copyright: Data, Hubble Legacy Archive; processing, Robert Gendler
SN 1987A: Supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Copyright: Data, Hubble Legacy Archive; processing, Robert Gendler
Star-Forming Region LH 95 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
A bluish nebula of glowing hydrogen expands out into the remains of the molecular cloud that collapsed to form the massive stars in this region. The effect is the result of strong stellar winds and high levels of ultraviolet radiation from the largest stars.
Credit: NASA, ESA, and the Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)-ESA/Hubble Collaboration
Hubble Observes the Large Magellanic Cloud’s Star-Forming Region, 30 Doradus
The massive, young stellar grouping, called R136, is only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. Many of the stars are among the most massive known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun. These hefty stars are destined to become supernovae in a few million years.
Tidal tails on the Large Magellanic Cloud
“The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a nearby irregular galaxy, and is a satellite of the Milky Way. At a distance of slightly less than 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years).”
Copyright: Marco Lorenzi
NGC 1760: Star-forming Complex in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Copyright: Data acquired by Ryan M. Hannahoe; data processed by Robert Gendler
