Tarantula nebula. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of filaments of gas in the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070). The bright star cluster Hodge 301 is seen

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Tarantula nebula. Hubble Space Telescope (HST) image of filaments of gas in the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070). The bright star cluster Hodge 301 is seen at lower right. The gaseous filaments were formed when massive stars in Hodge 301 exploded as supernovae. The material the stars eject in these explosions is causing shock waves which compress the gas into these filaments. The compressed gas may eventually form into stars itself, continuing the cycle of stellar life and death. The Tarantula Nebula lies in a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, the Large Magellanic Cloud, around 160,000 light years away.

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Size: 3543px × 3577px
Photo credit: © NASA/ESA/STSCI/HUBBLE HERITAGE TEAM/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No

Keywords: 301, 2070, astronomy, birth, cluster, cosmology, evolution, filament, formation, gas, hodge, hubble, image, neba, nebla, nebula, ngc, science, star, starbirth, stellar, tarantula