Caption: Schneider's team studied the bright, central regions of the
Tarantula Nebula.
None of the stars identified have unseated R126a1, also in the
Tarantula Nebula, as the most massive star in the known universe at more than 250 solar masses.
Also known as 30 Doradus, the
Tarantula Nebula is a raucous region of star birth that resides 170,000 light-years away in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small, satellite galaxy of our Milky Way.
Another complex group of objects is situated only 35 arc minutes south of the great
Tarantula nebula in the LMC.
Within it is the extraordinary H II region 30 Doradus, better known as the
Tarantula Nebula. The region is clearly visible to the unaided eye as a bright, fuzzy spot in the LMC's northeast.
In particular, the infrared sensitivity of NASA's planned James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will allow astronomers to look deep into the regions of the
Tarantula Nebula that are obscured in visible-light photographs.
The LMC has many star forming regions, with by far the most active being the 1,000 light-year diameter '
Tarantula Nebula' where the four supermassive stars are found.
The brightest patch within the LMC, visible to the naked eye, is NGC 2070, the
Tarantula Nebula. This nebula is a fantastic sight, rivalling Eta Carinae and the Orion Nebula.
I normally shift from NGC 2070 (the
Tarantula Nebula), to the small star clusters, NGC 2060 and NGC 2044 further south, from where I star-hop to the position of Supernova 1987A.
The stellar nursery, known as the
Tarantula nebula, lies in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy.