In a galaxy far, far, away, in the Tarantula Nebula, two Romeo and Juliet stars kiss before exploding. And they are hot, hot, hot.
- The Tarantula Nebula houses the two star crossed lovers
- Romeo and Juliet are 57 times the size of our sun
- Possible outcome of their romance is a supernova explosion
The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 30 Doradus, like all nebulas, is an interstellar cloud of dust, helium and hydrogen, of massive size. It’s a diffuse cosmic object that can measure hundreds of light years in diameter. What’s interesting about them is the fact that they are usually what are called star-forming regions. One such example is “The Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula.
They are literal “pillars” of gas, that are in the process of creating new planets. Gas, dust and other materials tend to latch together and form masses. These masses attract more matter until they are big enough to create stars. The remaining materials are believed to create planets.
Amazing fact. And the Tarantula Nebula is known as the most active region in the Universe for the creation of new stars and planets. The Tarantula Nebula is situated a whopping 160 000 miles from earth and it’s home to our lovers, Romeo and Juliet.
Romeo and Juliet actually represent a unique binary star system. Their real name is VFTS 252, but Romeo and Juliet sounds a bit more romantic. They are two massive, extremely hot stars that normally simply orbit each other in the span of one day. But now, seeing as their cores as so close to each other, this allowed them to create a bridge that unites them in a rare celestial embrace.
This embrace is actually caused by the gas that surrounds the stars and is called an overcontact binary, one of the rarest things in the universe. What makes their behavior even more unique is first the fact that the two are primary creators of oxygen and, second, that their life span is so short, that it’s very difficult to actually see them do this. Exactly like Romeo and Juliet.
Their temperature is of 72 000 degrees Fahrenheit. Just for us to make an idea, the Sun’s photosphere is about 10 000 degrees. Also, the VFTS 252 is 57 times bigger than our sun. Talk about lovers larger than life.
Again, exactly like Romeo and his Juliet, the two stars are in for a cataclysmic fate. The fact that they are so massive and are spinning so rapidly, means that they will, probably end up in a supernova explosion. What they would leave behind would be a pair of black holes, massive creators of gravitational waves.
Image Source: www.hngn.com
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