This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of star clusters that are believed to be in the early stages of colliding. The clusters lie in the gigantic 30 Doradus Nebula, which is 170,000 light-years from Earth.
Hubble's circumstantial evidence for the impending collision comes from seeing an elongated structure in the cluster at upper left, and from measuring a different age between the two clusters.
Also, there is an unusually large number of high-velocity stars expelled from the region. This is a normal byproduct of a process called core collapse, in which more-massive stars sink to the center of a cluster by ejecting lower-mass stars. However, both clusters are too young to have experienced core collapse. The ejected stars can be better explained if the two clusters are merging.
This nearby example of cluster interaction yields insights into how star clusters may have formed in the early universe.
The Hubble image at upper right was made with Wide Field Camera 3 observations taken Oct. 20-27, 2009. The blue color is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.
The colors in the wide-field image, made with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 and the Advanced Camera for Surveys, represent the hot gas that dominates regions of the image. Red signifies hydrogen gas and blue, oxygen. Hubble made the photo mosaic in October 2011.
Credits
NASA, ESA, D. Lennon and E. Sabbi (ESA/STScI), J. Anderson, S.E. de Mink, R. van der Marel, T. Sohn, and N. Walborn (STScI), N. Bastian (Excellence Cluster, Munich), L. Bedin (INAF, Padua), E. Bressert (ESO), P. Crowther (University of Sheffield), A. de Koter (University of Amsterdam), C. Evans (UKATC/STFC, Edinburgh), A. Herrero (IAC, Tenerife), N. Langer (AifA, Bonn), I. Platais (JHU), and H. Sana (University of Amsterdam)Upper Right Image: NASA, ESA, R. O'Connell (University of Virginia), and the WFC3 Science Oversight Committee
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | 30 Doradus, 30 Dor, Tarantula Nebula |
| Object Description | Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud |
| R.A. Position | 05h 38m 42.36s |
| Dec. Position | -69° 6' 3.24" |
| Constellation | Dorado |
| Distance | 170,000 light-years (52,000 parsecs) |
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | A name or catalog number that astronomers use to identify an astronomical object. |
| Object Description | The type of astronomical object. |
| R.A. Position | Right ascension – analogous to longitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Dec. Position | Declination – analogous to latitude – is one component of an object's position. |
| Constellation | One of 88 recognized regions of the celestial sphere in which the object appears. |
| Distance | The 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. |
| Dimensions | The physical size of the object or the apparent angle it subtends on the sky. |
| About The Data | |
| Data Description |
|
| Instrument | The science instrument used to produce the data. |
| Exposure Dates | The date(s) that the telescope made its observations and the total exposure time. |
| Filters | The camera filters that were used in the science observations. |
| About The Image | |
| Image Credit | The primary individuals and institutions responsible for the content. |
| Publication Date | The date and time the release content became public. |
| Color Info | A brief description of the methods used to convert telescope data into the color image being presented. |
| Orientation | The rotation of the image on the sky with respect to the north pole of the celestial sphere. |
