Online Astronomy eText: Stars and Stellar Systems
The Tarantula Nebula and R136
 Immediately below, the Tarantula Nebula, in the Large Magellanic Cloud. (M. Schirmer, T. Erben, M. Lombardi (IAEF Bonn), ESO)
ESO image of the Tarantula Nebula

 Below, R136, a supercluster in the Tarantula Nebula, which is primarily responsible for lighting up the Nebula. R136 consists of dozens of supermassive (50 to 80 solar mass) extremely hot (spectral type O3) stars formed within the last million or two years and embedded within an extremely rich open cluster with perhaps half a million solar masses. (NASA, ESA, & F. Paresce (INAF-IASF), R. O'Connell (U. Virginia), & the HST WFC3 Science Oversight Committee)
HST image of supercluster R136, which is lighting up the Tarantula Nebula