The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus) is a large
H II region in the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), forming its south-east corner (from
Earth's perspective).
Discovery
The brilliant stars in the Tarantula Nebula unleash a torrent of ultraviolet light and stellar winds that etch away at the hydrogen gas cloud in which the stars were born.
The Tarantula Nebula was observed by
Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille during an expedition to the Cape of Good Hope between 1751 and 1753. He catalogued it as the second of the "
Nebulae of the First Class", "Nebulosities not accompanied by any star visible in the telescope of two feet". It was described as a diffuse nebula 20' across.[5]
Johann Bode included the Tarantula in his 1801 Uranographia star atlas and listed it in the accompanying Allgemeine Beschreibung und Nachweisung der Gestirne catalogue as number 30 in the constellation "Xiphias or Dorado". Instead of being given a stellar magnitude, it was noted to be nebulous.[6]
The name Tarantula Nebula arose in the mid 20th century from its appearance in deep photographic exposures.[7]
30 Doradus has often been treated as the designation of a star,[8][9] or of the central star cluster
NGC 2070,[10] but is now generally treated as referring to the whole nebula area of the Tarantula Nebula.[11][12]
Properties
Hubble's high resolution view of the star-forming region of Tarantula Nebula and the
R136super star cluster at its center
It is also one of the
largest H II regions in the
Local Group with an estimated diameter around 200 to 570
pc (650 to 1860 light years),[2][3] and also because of its very large size, it is sometimes described as the largest, although other H II regions such as
NGC 604, which is in the
Triangulum Galaxy, could be larger.[3] The nebula resides on the leading edge of the LMC where
ram pressure stripping, and the compression of the
interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum.
30 Doradus has at its centre the star cluster
NGC 2070 which includes the compact concentration of
stars known as
R136[14] that produces most of the energy that makes the nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000
solar masses, suggesting it will likely become a
globular cluster in the future.[15] In addition to NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula contains a number of other
star clusters including the much older
Hodge 301. The most massive stars of Hodge 301 have already exploded in
supernovae.[16]
An
x-ray quiet
black hole was discovered in the Tarantula Nebula, the first outside of the
Milky Way Galaxy that does not radiate strongly. The black hole has a mass of at least 9 solar masses and is in a circular orbit with its 25 solar mass
blue giant companion
VFTS 243.[20]
^
abcdefg"Results for Tarantula Nebula". SEDS Students for the Exploration and Development of Space. Retrieved 2007-05-08. 30 Doradus .. 49 kpc +- 3 kpc
^
abcLebouteiller, V.; Bernard-Salas, J.; Brandl, B.; Whelan, D. G.; et al. (June 2008). "Chemical Composition and Mixing in Giant H II Regions: NGC 3603, 30 Doradus, and N66". The Astrophysical Journal. 680 (1): 398–419.
arXiv:0710.4549.
Bibcode:
2008ApJ...680..398L.
doi:
10.1086/587503.
S2CID16924851.
^Aguirre, J. E.; Bezaire, J. J.; Cheng, E. S.; Cottingham, D. A.; Cordone, S. S.; Crawford, T. M.; Fixsen, D. J.; Knox, L.; Meyer, S. S.; Norgaard-Nielsen, H. U.; Silverberg, R. F.; Timbie, P.; Wilson, G. W. (2003). "The Spectrum of Integrated Millimeter Flux of the Magellanic Clouds and 30 Doradus from Top Hat and DIRBE Data". The Astrophysical Journal. 596 (1): 273–286.
arXiv:astro-ph/0306425.
Bibcode:
2003ApJ...596..273A.
doi:
10.1086/377601.
S2CID14291665.