Stars in the Tarantula Nebula

In the most active starburst region in the local universe lies a cluster of brilliant, massive stars, known to astronomers as Hodge 301. Hodge 301, seen in the lower right hand corner of this image, lives inside the Tarantula Nebula in our galactic neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This star cluster is not the brightest, or youngest, or most populous star cluster in the Tarantula Nebula — that honor goes to the spectacular R136. In fact, Hodge 301 is almost 10 times older than the young cluster R136. But age has its advantages; many of the stars in Hodge 301 are so old that they have exploded as supernovae. These exploded stars are blasting material out into the surrounding region at speeds of almost 200 miles per second. This high speed ejecta are plowing into the surrounding Tarantula Nebula, shocking and compressing the gas into a multitude of sheets and filaments, seen in the upper left portion of the picture. Hodge 301 contains three red supergiants — stars that are close to the end of their evolution and are about to go supernova, exploding and sending more shocks into the Tarantula. Also present near the center of the image are small, dense gas globules and dust columns where new stars are being formed today, as part of the overall ongoing star formation throughout the Tarantula region.