Super star cluster R136 - The Heart of the Tarantula

[SkyViking]

The clouds have finally parted, and I have also been less busy lately, so here is an alternative view of a familiar target:

This image is a close up of the very core of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. With this image I have tried to present a decent view of the central region of the nebula while still resolving the extremely dense central cluster R136 as much as possible.

Image details:
Data taken 06/11 + 08/11 2010
10" Newtonian f/5, Philips ToUCam Pro SC1
Luminosity: 32x30.5s + 180x16s + 400x0.9s
Colour: 39x15.5s with IR blocking fliter

Image is available here: http://www.pbase.com/rolfolsen/image/130214798/original

R136 is a super star cluster which is a very large region of star formation thought to be the precursor of a globular cluster. It is very young at only 1-2 million years and consists of giant and supergiant stars of which the majority are of spectral type O3. The cluster also contains several Wolf-Rayet stars.
Speculation long sorrounded the nature of the central component of the cluster, named separately as R136a, and it was once thought to be a single hypergiant star of an incredible 1500 solar masses. R136a's true nature was recently resolved by holographic speckle interferometry and found to be a dense star cluster containing very massive and luminous stars. Three extremely luminous stars (R136a1, R136a2 and R136a3) dominate this cluster and are separated by only 0.10 and 0.48 arc seconds. R136a1 is the most massive star found to date with 265 solar masses, as well as being the most luminous at 10 million times the brightness of the Sun.
The entire R136 super cluster produces most of the energy that makes the Tarantula Nebula visible. The estimated mass of the cluster is 450,000 solar masses, suggesting it will probably become a globular cluster in the future.
A super star cluster, named Westerlund 1, also exists in the Milky Way but is heavily obscured by galactic dust.

A spectacular HST close-up of R136 can be found here: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/R136_HST_2009-12-15.jpg

Hope you enjoy, all comments and critique is welcome as usual.
Regards, Rolf

[strongmanmike]

Great stuff Rolph, even bigger star than Pismis 24-1 (maybe it is still a double too though..?) your shot is upside down and back to front compared to the HST shot...amazing to think that is a group of stars in another galaxy :eyepop:

Mike

[multiweb]

Very nice indeed. You've also started to resolve the smaller denser core. Pretty cool. :thumbsup:

[RobF]

Impressive and educational Rolf. Not one I was familiar with. Kudos yet again for such great work on the path less travelled.

[SkyViking]

Thanks Mike, yes this is a truly massive star! Also amazing to think that just 1-2 million years ago the whole Tarantula nebulas was probably not even visible, since this young cluster provides all the energy that lights it up.


Thank you Marc. I added the short 0.9s subs deliberately to get the highest possible resolution in the core, so I'm glad you noticed this :)


Thanks Rob, glad you liked it. It's always great to be able to show a new aspect of an otherwise familiar target.

[alexch]

Thanks Rolf,
I learned something new today.

Cheers,
Alex

[Alchemy]

Certainly a different approach by using the webcam, gives a much increased scale, it's come up very well, would be interesting to see just what detail you could come up with on something like eta carinae homonculous i have seen it done once before to bring out the detail missed by longer exposures quite an effective technique for brighter objects.

[SkyViking]

Thanks Alex, glad you liked it.



Thank you Clive. I did the Homunculus earlier this year and got some interesting details. The thread is here: Eta Carinae and Homunculus with 5x powermate (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/forum/showthread.php?t=56087)

[Hagar]

Great close up Rolf, Many here would never have seen this level of detail in the core of the spider.

Well done.

[that_guy]

:lol: my fav DS object and i never knew there was a cluster in the middle :lol: great pic :eek: learnt something new today :D

[SkyViking]

Thank you Doug, yeah I wasn't aware of it either. A very interesting and quite extreme area for sure.


Thanks Tony :) Glad you liked it.

[telecasterguru]

Very impressive.

Frank

[John Hothersall]

Love it when imagers stretch to the limits and you separate those stars out well, pity I can't image this one with the roof in the way.

John.

[SkyViking]

Thank you Frank :)


Thanks John :) My camera is very modest but I do enjoy to push it to the limit. Currently I'm looking forward to getting a better cam later this year - which will definitely be pushed to the limit as well.