The Hubble Space Telescope is still operating more than 30 years after its launch, observing the universe and sending home images for us to admire. This week, NASA and ESA has highlighted Hubble's image of the highly productive Tarantula Nebula (officially 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and it's a sight to behold.
The Large Magellanic Cloud may be only 10-20% more massive than our Milky Way galaxy, but it boasts some of the most impressive star-forming regions in the neighboring Universe! 1/3 pic.twitter.com/juulDT44mD
— HUBBLE (@HUBBLE_space) January 23, 2025
According to NASA, the Tarantula Nebula is “the largest and most prolific star-forming region in the local universe,” with stars about 200 times more massive than the Sun at its center. This Hubble image gives us a glimpse of the nebula's outskirts, revealing layers of colorful gas and stars. The Tarantula Nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy.
Although the final result we see is filled with vibrant colors, the Hubble images initially return in shades of gray. How explained, “Scientists can create a composite color image by taking pictures using different color filters on a telescope, assigning each filter a color corresponding to that filter's wavelength, and combining the images.” The new image of the Tarantula Nebula shows not only visible light, but also ultraviolet and infrared light. In this case, colors are assigned to wavelengths that we cannot normally see.