Hubble/WFPC2 and ESO/2.2-m Composite Image of 30 Dor Runaway Star

About the colours

This image is a composite of two separate exposures made by the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope along with ground-based observations. In total, two filters were used to sample narrow wavelength emission and two filters were used to sample broadband emission. The color results from assigning different hues (colors) to each monochromatic image. In this case, the assigned colors are: Blue: ESO B Green: ESO [O III] + V Red: ESO H-alpha Luminosity*: WFPC2 F656N (H-alpha) *The higher resolution, black-and-white Hubble image and the lower resolution, color ESO images were combined using a technique that takes luminosity (brightness) information from the black-and-white ACS image and color information from the composite ESO image. This preserves all of the higher resolution detail from the Hubble data while rendering a color image representing the physical processes in this active region of space.

About the data

The 30 Doradus "runaway" star image is based on Hubble WFPC2 data from proposal 5584 : J. Walsh (ESO/ST-ECF), et al. This image was combined with a ground-based ESO 2.2-m WFI image of the Tarantula Nebula by J. Alves (Calar Alto, Spain), and B. Vandame and Y. Beletski (ESO). Filters in the ESO image include: B, V, H-alpha and [O III].