EMBARGOED UNTIL: 1:00 a.m. (EDT) September 29, 1999

PHOTO NO.: STScI-PRC99-33b


A GRAND VIEW OF THE BIRTH OF "HEFTY" STARS - 30 DORADUS NEBULA DETAILS

These are two views of a highly active region of star birth located
northeast of the central cluster, R136, in 30 Doradus. The orientation
and scale are identical for both views. The top panel is a composite of
images in two colors taken with the Hubble Space Telescope's
visible-light camera, the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2). The
bottom panel is a composite of pictures taken through three infrared
filters with Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
(NICMOS). In both cases the colors of the displays were chosen to
correlate with the nebula's and stars' true colors.

Seven very young objects are identified with numbered arrows in the
infrared image. Number 1 is a newborn, compact cluster dominated by a
triple system of "hefty" stars. It has formed within the head of a
massive dust pillar pointing toward R136. The energetic outflows from
R136 have shaped the pillar and triggered the collapse of clouds within
its summit to form the new stars. The radiation and outflows from these
new stars have in turn blown off the top of the pillar, so they can be
seen in the visible-light as well as the infrared image.  

Numbers 2 and 3 also pinpoint newborn stars or stellar systems inside an
adjacent, bright-rimmed pillar, likewise oriented toward R136. These
objects are still immersed within their natal dust and can be seen only
as very faint, red points in the visible-light image. They are, however,
among the brightest objects in the infrared image, since dust does not
block infrared light as much as visible light. Thus, numbers 2 and 3 and
number 1 correspond respectively to two successive stages in the birth
of massive stars. Number 4 is a very red star that has just formed
within one of several very compact dust clouds nearby. 

Number 5 is another very young triple-star system with a surrounding
cluster of fainter stars. They also can be seen in the visible-light
picture. Most remarkable are the glowing patches numbered 6 and 7, which
astronomers have interpreted as "impact points" produced by twin jets of
material slamming into surrounding dust clouds. These "impact points"
are perfectly aligned on opposite sides of number 5 (the triple-star
system), and each is separated from the star system by about 5
light-years. The jets probably originate from a circumstellar disk
around one of the young stars in number 5. They may be rotating
counterclockwise, thus producing moving, luminous patches on the
surrounding dust, like a searchlight creating spots on clouds. These
infrared patches produced by jets from a massive, young star are a new
astronomical phenomenon. 

Credits for NICMOS image: NASA/Nolan Walborn (Space Telescope Science
Institute, Baltimore, Md.) and Rodolfo Barba' (La Plata Observatory, La
Plata, Argentina)

Credits for WFPC2 image: NASA/John Trauger (Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif.) and James Westphal (California Institute of
Technology, Pasadena, Calif.)