NASA has released a breathtaking composite image of the Tarantula Nebula, combining data from the James Webb Space Telescope, Chandra Observatory and Hubble.
New composite image of the Tarantula Nebula
Space scientists have revealed a vibrant new image of the Tarantula Nebula. Describing the striking observation as "like a collage made of layered sheets of coloured cellophane," NASA said the resulting cosmic "craft" reveals new insights into the star formation region, also known as 30 Doradus.
Located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small neighbouring galaxy to the Milky Way roughly 160,000 light-years from Earth, the Tarantula hosts thousands of young stars embedded within a dynamic honeycomb-like structure of gas and dust.
Telescopes combine data
The new composite image incorporates X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, which has examined the Tarantula Nebula on numerous occasions throughout its mission. It also features infrared data from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope exposing thousands of young stars, alongside vast regions of cool dust that will provide the raw materials to form new stars and planets.
The composite image showcases the complete Hubble and Webb telescope images of this region, together with a significant portion of the Chandra image, all recently published in a research paper in the Astrophysical Journal.
Energy loss from multiple sources
Through analysis of the data, combined with data from NASA's retired Spitzer Space Telescope, the team established the Tarantula may be haemorrhaging energy from multiple sources. They note that the Tarantula Nebula is haemorrhaging energy as up to half its hot gas escapes, turbulent mixing cools the remaining gas, and thermal conduction transfers heat to cooler shell material without mixing.
