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NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
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Images from the Hubble Space Telescope can provide astronomers a wealth of new information. Some of them allow for groundbreaking discoveries. Many, like this one, are not so dramatic science-wise, but the world seems a better place just for having them to look at.
This picture shows a portion of the Tarantula nebula, where streamers of gas are lit colorfully by hot stars. The nebula is in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a relatively nearby galaxy that is smaller than our own. In the lower-right of the image is a cluster of bright and massive stars known as Hodge 301.
The stars in the cluster are old for their size (massive stars typically live just millions of years, whereas our Sun is 4.6 billion years old and just middle-aged). Many of the Hodge stars have already exploded as supernovae, and more are near that point. The explosions send material outward at high speeds, compressing gas and forming the sheets and filaments seen in the rest of the picture.
At least three red supergiant stars in this picture will explode within the next few million years, astronomers say. Because the nebula is 168,000 light years away -- and that's how long it took its light to get here -- one or more of these stars may already have gone supernova and we just don't know it yet. [Supernova Accurately Predicted / More Hubble Pictures]
-- Robert Roy Britt
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