Merging clusters in 30 Doradus

Esahubble_opo1235b_1024

esahubble_opo1235b August 20th, 2012

Credit: NASA, ESA, and E. Sabbi (ESA/STScI) Acknowledgment: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia) and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee

This is a Hubble Space Telescope image of a pair of star clusters that are believed to be in the early stages of merging. 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, the unusually large number of high-velocity stars around 30 Doradus can finally be explained if a small cluster has merged into the big cluster R136 in the centre of the Tarantula Nebula. This nearby example of cluster interaction yields insights into how star clusters may have formed in the early Universe. The Hubble observations, made with the Wide Field Camera 3, were taken 20-27 October, 2009. The blue colour is light from the hottest, most massive stars; the green from the glow of oxygen; and the red from fluorescing hydrogen.

Provider: Hubble Space Telescope | ESA

Image Source: https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1235b/

Curator: ESA/Hubble, Garching bei München, Germany

Image Use Policy: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License

Image Details

Image Type
Observation
Object Name
30 Dor 30 Doradus 30 Doradus Nebula Tarantula Nebula
Subject - Local Universe
Nebula > Type > Star Formation
Esahubble_opo1235b_128
 

Position Details

Position (ICRS)
RA = 5h 38m 49.1s
DEC = -69° 6’ 7.5”
Orientation
North is 12.0° CCW
Field of View
1.6 x 1.6 arcminutes
Constellation
Dorado

Color Mapping

  Telescope Spectral Band Wavelength
Red Hubble (WFC3) Infrared (I) 814.0 nm
Orange Hubble (WFC3) Optical (H-alpha) 656.0 nm
Green Hubble (WFC3) Optical (V) 555.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (B) 438.0 nm
Blue Hubble (WFC3) Optical (U) 336.0 nm
Spectrum_base
Red
Orange
Green
Blue
Blue
Esahubble_opo1235b_1280
×
ID
opo1235b
Subject Category
C.4.1.2  
Subject Name
30 Dor, 30 Doradus, 30 Doradus Nebula, Tarantula Nebula
Credits
NASA, ESA, and E. Sabbi (ESA/STScI) Acknowledgment: R. O'Connell (University of Virginia) and the Wide Field Camera 3 Science Oversight Committee
Release Date
2012-08-20T17:11:29
Lightyears
Redshift
Reference Url
https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/opo1235b/
Type
Observation
Image Quality
Distance Notes
Facility
Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope, Hubble Space Telescope
Instrument
WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3, WFC3
Color Assignment
Red, Orange, Green, Blue, Blue
Band
Infrared, Optical, Optical, Optical, Optical
Bandpass
I, H-alpha, V, B, U
Central Wavelength
814, 656, 555, 438, 336
Start Time
Integration Time
Dataset ID
Notes
Coordinate Frame
ICRS
Equinox
J2000
Reference Value
84.7046115036, -69.1020889283
Reference Dimension
2500.0, 2500.0
Reference Pixel
557.873506002, 719.780345967
Scale
-1.099859e-05, 1.099859e-05
Rotation
11.99803319799
Coordinate System Projection:
TAN
Quality
Full
FITS Header
Notes
Creator (Curator)
ESA/Hubble
URL
http://www.spacetelescope.org/
Name
Email
Telephone
Address
Karl-Schwarzschild-Strasse 2
City
Garching bei München
State/Province
Postal Code
D-85748
Country
Germany
Rights
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Publisher
ESA/Hubble
Publisher ID
esahubble
Resource ID
opo1235b
Metadata Date
2019-10-07T11:41:36.181033
Metadata Version
1.1
×

 

Detailed color mapping information coming soon...

×

There is no distance meta data in this image.

 

Providers | Sign In