Posted on by Evan Gough

Astronomers See Massive Stars Forming Together in Multiple Star Systems

This false-color image of the massive star formation region G333.23–0.06 came from data obtained with the ALMA radio observatory. The insets show regions where researchers detected multiple systems of protostars. The star symbols indicate the location of each newly forming star. Image Credit: S. Li, MPIA / J. Neidel, MPIA Graphics Department / Data: ALMA Observatory

All stars form in giant molecular clouds of hydrogen. But some stars are extraordinarily massive; the most massive one we know of is about 200 times more massive than the Sun. How do these stars gain so much mass?

Part of the answer is that they form in multiple star systems.

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Posted on by Evan Gough

The Tarantula Nebula Shouldn’t Be Forming Stars. What’s Going On?

30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, is a region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Streamlines show the magnetic field morphology from SOFIA HAWC+ polarization maps. These are superimposed on a composite image captured by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope and the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy. Credit: Background: ESO, M.-R. Cioni/VISTA Magellanic Cloud survey. Acknowledgment: Cambridge Astronomical Survey Unit. Streamlines: NASA/SOFIA

The Tarantula Nebula is a star formation region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Tarantula is about 160,000 light-years away and is highly luminous for a non-stellar object. It’s the brightest and largest star formation region in the entire Local Group of galaxies.

But it shouldn’t be.

Continue reading “The Tarantula Nebula Shouldn’t Be Forming Stars. What’s Going On?”