Stellar Nursery R136 in the Tarantula Nebula Cushion

Galaxies, Stars and Nebulae series: Hundreds of brilliant blue stars wreathed by warm, glowing clouds appear in this detailed view of R136. It's only a few million years old and resides in the 30 Doradus (or Tarantula) Nebula, a turbulent star-birth region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). There is no known star-forming region in our galaxy as large or as prolific as 30 Doradus. Many of the diamond-like icy blue stars are among the most massive stars known. Several of them are over 100 times more massive than our Sun and destined to turn supernova in a few million years. Image code: dorneblmc Image credit: Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3