The spindly, spidery filaments seen throughout this image show why we call this cosmic object the Tarantula Nebula!
This #hubbleclassic view only shows a small portion of the sprawling star-forming region. It's located about 170,000 light-years away and resides within the Large Magellanic Cloud, which is a small satellite galaxy that orbits our home Milky Way Galaxy.
Home to the most massive stars ever seen, the Tarantula Nebula is also known as 30 Doradus and Caldwell 103.
Plus, it's home to an interesting structure of "bubbles" at lower left, which make up the so-called Honeycomb Nebula!
Image credit: ESA/Hubble & NASA; Acknowledgment: Judy Schmidt (Geckzilla)
#nasa #hubble #classic #nebula #stars #space #science #astronomy #universe
