In Tarantula Nebula, a stunning view of stars being born

WASHINGTON

Astronomers have viewed the Tarantula Nebula, a star-forming cloud in the sky. This has allowed them to gain new insights into the dynamics of star formation and a stunning image of the cosmos.

Wednesday, February 13, 2009: Wednesday, February 14, 2009: Researchers saidTheir observations provided insight into the interplay of the irresistible force that drives star formation and massive amounts of energy that young stars inject into nearby environments to inhibit stellar birth.

The Tarantula Nebula is located in a satellite galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is a web made up of stars, dust, and gas with a diameter of around 600 light-years. A light year is the distance light travels over a year, which is 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 billion km).

The Tarantula Nebula lies approximately 170,000 light years away from Earth. It is formally known as 30 Doradus, which refers to a number for objects located in the direction of Dorado.

It is known as the Tarantula Nebula due to its glowing filaments of dust, gas and stars that resemble spider legs. The nebula has a gas composition similar to that of the universe’s older periods, mainly hydrogen and helium.

European Southern Observatory released an image of Tarantula Nebula showing wispy clouds that could be remnants larger ones that were destroyed by energy from massive young stars.

“We see stars form where there is lots of gas and dust, and there is certainly a lot in the Tarantula Nebula.” saidGuido De Marchi, an astrophysicist from the European Space Agency’s European Space Research and Technology Centre (Netherlands), was co-author of the Astrophysical Journal article and presented it at the American Astronomical Society meeting.

These observations were made with the Chile-based ALMA telescope.

Stars form when gas clouds collapsing under their own gravity cause the gas to get denser and more dense. These clouds contract and heat up until the core becomes hot enough to ignite the stellar engine, a massive nuclear reactor.” De Marchi said.

“But, we thought that massive stars, over 100 times bigger than the sun, create so much energy that it stops the infall of gas. This shuts off the fuel that will allow more stars to form. ALMA has now made beautiful observations of Tarantula Nebula. It shows that gas can continue to fall if it is dense enough. This allows for new stars to form. He said that this is an interesting and novel observation. said.

De Marchi was talking about feedback, a phenomenon in which massive young stars emit large amounts energy into their local surroundings as photons and high speed particles. The nebula has a primordial composition that has allowed for the formation of stars up to 200 times larger than our sun.

Tony Wong, University of Illinois astrophysicist, and study lead author, said that the Tarantula Nebula is one of the most extreme feedback environments we can observe in detail. It hosts the closest example of a young star cluster. said.

“One of the biggest mysteries in astronomy concerns why we are still able witness stars forming today. Why didn’t all available gas burst in a massive star formation explosion that happened long ago? ALMA observations can shed light into the inner workings of clouds and help us understand how gravity, feedback and influence work together to keep star formation under control,” Wong stated.

Researchers were not surprised by the beauty of the nebula.

De Marchi said, “I personally love Tarantula Nebula both scientifically as esthetically.” said. It is a beautiful scene in the sky. I have often wondered what night would look like on a planet around one its stars. It would have bright colors and stringed gas lines crisscrossing it.

(Reporting by Will Dunham; Editing by Rosalba A’Brien