Massive star ejected from young star cluster (artist's impression)
This illustration shows the heavy runaway star 30 Dor #016 rushing away from a nearby stellar nursery at more than 400 000 kilometres per hour. The runaway is the most extreme case of a very massive star that has been kicked out of its home by a group of even heftier siblings.
Tantalizing clues from three observatories, including the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope’s newly installed Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), and some old-fashioned detective work, suggest that the star may have travelled about 375 light-years from its suspected home, a giant star cluster called R136.
Credit:Illustration Credit: NASA, ESA and A. Feild (STScI)
Science Credit: NASA, ESA, C. Evans (Royal Observatory Edinburgh), N. Walborn (STScI) and ESO
About the Image
Id: | heic1008d |
Type: | Artwork |
Release date: | 11 May 2010, 15:00 |
Related releases: | heic1008 |
Size: | 3000 x 1277 px |
About the Object
Name: | 30 Doradus |
Type: | Local Universe : Star Local Universe : Star : Grouping : Cluster |
Distance: | 170000 light years |
Category: | Star Clusters |