This image, released on Feb. 12, 2025, is the deepest X-ray image ever made of the spectacular star forming region called 30 Doradus. By combining X-ray data from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory (blue and green) with optical data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope (yellow) and radio data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (orange), this stellar arrangement comes alive.
Otherwise known as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Dor is located about 160,000 light-years away in a small neighboring galaxy to the Milky Way known as the Large Magellanic Cloud. Because it one of the brightest and populated star-forming regions to Earth, 30 Dor is a frequent target for scientists trying to learn more about how stars are born.
Learn more about this new image and what it reveals.
Image credit: X-ray: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; Infrared: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; Radio: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand
这张于2025年2月12日发布的图像是迄今为止对壮丽的恒星诞生区域剑鱼座30（30 Doradus）的最深X射线图像。该图像结合了来自NASA钱德拉X射线天文台（蓝色和绿色）、哈勃太空望远镜（黄色）的光学数据以及阿塔卡马大型毫米/亚毫米阵列（ALMA，橙色）的射电数据，使这片恒星形成区域更加生动可见。
剑鱼座30也被称为蜘蛛星云，位于距离地球约16万光年的大麦哲伦星系（银河系的一个近邻星系）。由于它是已知最明亮、恒星形成最活跃的区域之一，剑鱼座30频繁成为天文学家的研究目标，以进一步探索恒星的诞生过程。
影像来源: X射线: NASA/CXC/Penn State Univ./L. Townsley et al.; 红外光: NASA/JPL-CalTech/SST; 可见光: NASA/STScI/HST; 射电: ESO/NAOJ/NRAO/ALMA; 影像处理: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, K. Arcand
