Starship Asterisk*

Ann wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 5:22 pm

Chris Alex wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 3:32 pm That center cluster is thought to contain one of the most massive and luminous stars known, R136a1, I wonder if it can be identified in those images.
(It's always fun to look at such images and be able to say "oh and this innocent-looking little star right here is five million times brighter than the sun!")

Maybe you can match the rightmost panel in the "three-panel image" with the ESO closeup of R136Ia beside it (or, depending on your screen, below it)?
Ann

Ann wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 5:22 pm

Chris Alex wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 3:32 pm

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am

I really do recommend the sequence of images below, but of course it is always much easier to show things with several images rather than one:

Overview of the Tarantula Nebula and zooming in on R 136a. Credit: ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans

---

Ann

That center cluster is thought to contain one of the most massive and luminous stars known, R136a1, I wonder if it can be identified in those images.
(It's always fun to look at such images and be able to say "oh and this innocent-looking little star right here is five million times brighter than the sun!")

Overview of the Tarantula Nebula and zooming in on R 136a. Credit: ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans

---

A new near-infrared image of the R136 cluster, obtained at high resolution with the MAD adaptive optics instrument at ESO’s Very Large Telescope, provides unique details of its stellar content. At birth, the three brightest stars each weighed more than 150 times the mass of the Sun. The most massive star, known as R136a1 and located at the centre of the image, has been found to have a current mass of 265 times that of the Sun. It also has the highest luminosity, at some seven million times greater than the Sun. ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans - http://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1030d/

---

Maybe you can match the rightmost panel in the "three-panel image" with the ESO closeup of R136Ia beside it (or, depending on your screen, below it)?

Ann

Chris Alex wrote: ↑Fri Apr 28, 2023 3:32 pm

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am

I really do recommend the sequence of images below, but of course it is always much easier to show things with several images rather than one:

Overview of the Tarantula Nebula and zooming in on R 136a. Credit: ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans

---

Ann

That center cluster is thought to contain one of the most massive and luminous stars known, R136a1, I wonder if it can be identified in those images.
(It's always fun to look at such images and be able to say "oh and this innocent-looking little star right here is five million times brighter than the sun!")

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am

SuperBIT_tarantula_1024[1].png

The Tarantula Nebula from SuperBIT
Image Credit: SuperBIT, NASA

When I first saw this image, I was unimpressed. I was, like, come on, haven't we seen hundreds of pictures of the Tarantula Nebula? What's so special about this one?

But when I started searching for pictures that would do a better job of showing the Tarantula Nebula than the SuperBIT one, I was humbled.

What I found was closeups of the R136 region:

Closeup of the R 136a star cluster. Image credit: NASA/ESA/P. Crowther

---

'Medium closeup' of the R136 region by James Webb. Wait, is that bright nebula outline tarantula-shaped?

---

Then there were "full" images of the Tarantula that nevertheless left something to be desired (to me at least):

The Tarantula Nebula. The overall 'Tarantula shape' is not obvious to me. Credit: ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, C. C. Thöne, C. Féron, and J.-E. Ovaldsen

---

The Tarantula Nebula. The 'Tarantula shape' is beautifully obvious, but the inner parts of the nebula are overexposed. Credit: D.R.

---

I really do recommend the sequence of images below, but of course it is always much easier to show things with several images rather than one:

Overview of the Tarantula Nebula and zooming in on R 136a. Credit: ESO/P. Crowther/C.J. Evans

---

So, okay! Today's APOD does a more than acceptable job of bringing out both the R136a star cluster, the bright pink nebulosity surrounding the great cluster and the outer faint tarantula-shaped nebula surrounding the bright central parts. On top of that, the colors are okay, although the green stars are not my favorites.

You did an okay job then, SuperBIT! Because photographing the Tarantula, even for professional telescopes, is harder than I had realized.

Ann

AVAO wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:06 am

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am ...
"You did an okay job then, SuperBIT! Because photographing the Tarantula, even for professional telescopes, is harder than I had realized."

Ann

ThanX Ann

Well. For me, the question arises whether I really need a balloon for this too ,-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHc4u5PwHY
https://www.vikaschander.com/ngc-2070-t ... la-nebula/

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:26 pm

VictorBorun wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 4:23 pm How come the brightest stars are the reddest?

Click to view full size image

This cluster is old enough that the most massive (and thus brightest) stars have turned into red giants.

R136a (the central cluster powering the entire Tarantula Nebula) is much younger. There are no red giants in it. But you can't tell the color of the stars of R136a in the APOD. That power cluster is nestled among the brightest strands of pink nebulosity and overwhelmed by the brilliant pink nebular strands in this image.

Ann

VictorBorun wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 4:23 pm How come the brightest stars are the reddest?

Click to view full size image

AVAO wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 11:06 am

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am ...
"You did an okay job then, SuperBIT! Because photographing the Tarantula, even for professional telescopes, is harder than I had realized."

Ann

ThanX Ann

Well. For me, the question arises whether I really need a balloon for this too ,-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOHc4u5PwHY
https://www.vikaschander.com/ngc-2070-t ... la-nebula/

Ann wrote: ↑Thu Apr 27, 2023 5:33 am ...
"You did an okay job then, SuperBIT! Because photographing the Tarantula, even for professional telescopes, is harder than I had realized."

Ann