Abstract
A review of the properties of the Tarantula Nebula (30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud is presented, primarily from the perspective of its massive star content. The proximity of the Tarantula and its accessibility to X-ray through radio observations permit it to serve as a Rosetta Stone amongst extragalactic supergiant HII regions since one can consider both its integrated characteristics and the individual properties of individual massive stars. Recent surveys of its high mass stellar content, notably the VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS), are reviewed, together with VLT/MUSE observations of the central ionizing region NGC 2070 and HST/STIS spectroscopy of the young dense cluster R136, provide a near complete Hertzsprung-Russell diagram of the region, and cumulative ionizing output. Several high mass binaries are highlighted, some of which have been identified from a recent X-ray survey. Brief comparisons with the stellar content of giant HII regions in the Milky Way (NGC 3372) and Small Magellanic Cloud (NGC 346) are also made, together with Green Pea galaxies and star forming knots in high-z galaxies. Finally, the prospect of studying massive stars in metal poor galaxies is evaluated.
Highlights
The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the brightest supergiant HII region in the Local Group of galaxies, and serves as a local analogue to metal-poor starburst knots in high redshift galaxies [1]
Recent comprehensive spectroscopic and imaging surveys have revealed that the Tarantula Nebula hosts the most exceptional massive star population within the Local Group of galaxies, including the most massive stars identified to date, the fastest rotating early-type stars, and the X-ray brightest colliding wind system
The VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) survey has revealed an excess of massive stars with respect to a Salpeter IMF [40] and added support from previous results for the importance of close binary evolution in the evolution of massive stars [64]
Summary
The Tarantula Nebula (alias 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the brightest supergiant HII region in the Local Group of galaxies, and serves as a local analogue to metal-poor starburst knots in high redshift galaxies [1]. The advent of modern highly multiplexed spectrographs coupled with large ground-based telescopes, has permitted multi-epoch optical spectroscopic surveys of the massive star population of the Tarantula Nebula for the first time. The VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey, hereafter VFTS [2], has provided the multiplicity, rotational velocities and initial mass function of massive stars. Counterparts in other Local Group galaxies suffer from a number of limitations, including a relatively modest stellar content (NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC) or much greater distance (NGC 604 in M 33), such that the Tarantula—whose metallicity is approximately half-solar [3]—serves as the only credible Rosetta Stone for rich extragalactic star-forming regions. Comparisons with local and high-redshift star-forming regions will be provided to put the properties of the Tarantula into a broader context. The nebular properties of the central NGC 2070 region of the Tarantula are strikingly similar to Green Pea galaxies, exhibiting intense [O III] λ4959, 5007 emission, and its star-formation rate is comparable to intense star-forming clumps at high redshift
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