The Tarantula That Lost Its Fire

Universe Today Universe Today —

The new composite image of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus), layering X-ray data from Chandra (blue), infrared from Webb (red), and optical data from Hubble (green) — the combination that let astronomers trace where the nebula's missing energy has been escaping to (Credit : X-ray: NASA/CXC/Ohio State Univ./J. Rodriguez et al; Infrared: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI; Optical: NASA/ESA/STScI; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/P. Edmonds)https://www.universetoday.com/article_images/30dor_20260814_232917.jpg" width="1280" />

A new composite image combining data from Chandra, Hubble, Webb and the retired Spitzer telescope has helped astronomers solve a long standing puzzle in the Tarantula Nebula, a star forming region 160,000 light years away.

Young, massive stars there should be heating enough gas to emit X-rays, but observations showed far less X-ray emission than predicted.

Read full article at Universe Today →