Tarantula Nebula Glows With X-Rays and Infrared Light
The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA.
Date Article Written: Nov.13, 2011
The region in which stars are made, 30 Doradus, is one of the largest located close to the Milky Way, in the neighboring galaxy Large Magellanic Cloud. About 2,400 giant stars in the center of 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula, are making intense radiation and powerful winds while they blow off matter.
A nebula, which comes from the Latin word for mist or cloud, is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen, helium, and other gases. Many nebulae or stars form from the gravitational collapse of gas in the interstellar medium. As the material collapses, massive stars form in the center, and their ultraviolet radiation ionizes the surrounding gas, making it visible at optical wavelengths.
Astronomy – the oldest of the natural sciences. Astronomy is the only science in which you cannot perform experiments directly ; you can’t weigh, touch or smell your subject matter… You can only observe the radiation ( visible light, radio, infra-red) which comes to earth.
What fascinates us is how there's so many unanswered questions. The Universe is enormous, and literally anything is possible if we keep exploring space. There's just so much to learn about the Universe than there is to learn about anything else.
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