admin The Tarantula Nebula is a star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Tarantula is about 160,000 light-years away and has a high luminosity for a non-stellar object. It is the brightest and largest star-forming region in the entire Local Group of galaxies.
But it can’t be that way.
30 The Tarantula Nebula, also known as Doradas, is dominated at its center by a massive star cluster called R136. Stars are young and massive, and when enough stars are concentrated in one region, it is called a starburst region. The R136 is eligible for this award. The stars of R136 are so dense that there are tens of thousands of stars on the distance scale between the Sun and its nearest neighbor Proxima Centauri.
Massive young stars consume hydrogen fuel at high speeds and release vast amounts of energy. This energy forms the Tarantula Nebula. This creates an expanding bubble in the gas. One of them is his JWST image below, seen to the upper left and left of the central cluster R136. R136 is responsible for these bubble groups.
But there are many strange things at the center of the Tarantula Nebula. Combining stellar radiation from all these high-energy stars should pressurize the central gas. it’s not. And the midrange mass is less than expected. To make the surface as stable as it is, it needs to be made more solid. what happened?
In a new article published in the Astrophysical Journal, researchers explain what’s happening. The title of the article is “Observations of 30 Doradas by SOFIA. II. Magnetic fields and large-scale gas kinematics.” The first author is Le Ngoc Tram of the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy. It’s an observatory. The mission ended after that, but it was a modified Boeing 747 with a large infrared telescope inside. Sophia flew night missions and observed various phenomena in the night sky in the infrared range. Infrared observations are difficult from the surface of the earth, but more effective from space where there is no atmosphere. SOFIA was an effective way to traverse most of the Earth without the costs and complexities associated with launching a space telescope.
SOFIA was retired in September 2022 and was a joint mission of NASA and the German Aviation Center (DLR). This paper builds on previously collected observations.
Astronomers used SOFIA’s High Resolution Aerial Wideband Camera Plus (HAWC+) to study the interaction of magnetic fields and gravity on Doradas 30. Observations show that the magnetic field of the Tarantula Nebula plays a role in holding this region together.
“The entirety of $30 is a complex star-forming region, clearly showing a core halo structure with multiple parsec-scale shell extensions in the outer region and clouds in the inner region,” the paper states. says. Stellar winds from all massive stars and supernovae are responsible for these bubbles.
30 At the heart of Doradas’ madness is that chaos. Strong stellar winds from massive stars and the energy of supernova explosions combine to push gas around the region. There should be chaos as the gas disperses and star formation slows down. This is not the case, and scientists want to know why.
To find out, in this study the researchers mapped the magnetic fields known in astronomy as B-fields.
30 Doradas is too far for astronomers to measure its magnetic field directly. But because SOFIA is an infrared observatory, the researchers observed this region in three far-infrared wavelength bands: 89, 154, and 214 μm. Together they produced a polarimetric depiction of the gas in the region. They also used the CII observation, the so-called forbidden line of ionized carbon. This is at 158 μm and shows fine detail.
The research team used his observations and the work of other researchers studying 30 Doradas. They mapped the magnetic field and gas velocities in the region to more clearly observe 30 Doradas. The magnetic field is obtained from the velocity gradient (VG).
What is the specific goal? ,” the authors write.
The team also used the data to create PV (Position Velocity) charts, giving us great insight into and around the region. A PV diagram shows the location of various velocity gradients (VG) in the gas. Each velocity gradient indicates the position of an expanding bubble within 30 Doradus gases.
“These PV charts confirm the existence of some organized VGs in this region. It covers the velocity interval and has the shape of a curvilinear/semi-elliptical feature associated with mussel expansion,” the authors wrote.
At the heart of this work is the author’s question: How can strong B fields explain ongoing star formation?
“Here he suspects that B-fields may play an important role in maintaining the integrity of the cloud,” the authors write in their paper. “Because the B-field morphology aligns perpendicular to the radial direction, the magnetic pressure can resist pressure from that direction,” they explain. Radiation is the energy radiated from healthy young stars.
It depends on their power. They are strong enough to regulate the flow of gas in this region and hold the entire structure together, despite the combined stellar winds from all the young stars. Also, they are stronger than gravity and try to collapse the gas cloud into even more stars.
But the strength of these fields is different. As the gas weakens in some areas, it forms bubbles that move and expand. These bubbles are continuously infused with gas, and within them are dense enough to form stars.
Clearly, 30 Doradus is a complex area. The presence of starburst regions, strong magnetic fields, superheated gas and gas bubbles makes this region a fascinating place for astronomers. “The entire 30 d’or is a complex star-forming region, clearly showing a core halo structure with several parsec-scale extended shell structures in the outer region and clouds in the inner region,” the authors explain. .
This study helps explain the role played by all the processes and magnetic fields that occur in the part of 30 Dor that is of interest in this study. Further research is needed to elucidate how these powerful magnetic fields shape the entire nebula. “We argue that future polarization observations covering a wide range of $30s are needed to better understand the role of B-fields in kinematic evolution across the $30s region,” the authors say. writing.
Still unclear is the role of the Large Magellanic Cloud’s magnetic field. According to the authors, we need radio observations to understand this. Astronomers have already collected some LMC radio observations using the Parkes Radio Telescope and the Australian Telescope Compact Array. These observations indicated that the LMC’s magnetic field is partly formed by tidal interactions with the Small Magellanic Cloud.
But those observations weren’t fine enough to reveal the link between the LMC and 30 Doradus.
“More sensitivity and resolution of polarimetric observations at radio wavelengths are needed to better understand the link from the galactic-scale to cloud-scale B-fields,” the authors conclude.
