The star-forming region of 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud is a roiling region of very bright, intense star creation. Having given rise to more than 800,000 stars and protostars, researchers look towards it to understand the complex interaction of gravity pulling gas together to form stars, and the energy released by young stars that pushes gas away, known as feedback.
However, a new study using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array has turned up a surprising find.
“We were expecting to find that the parts of the cloud closest to the young, massive stars would show the clearest signs of gravity being overwhelmed by feedback and, as a result, a lower rate of star formation,” says Tony Wong from University of Illinois, who led the research.
“Instead, these observations confirmed that even in a region with extremely active feedback, gravity’s presence is still strongly felt and star formation is likely to continue.”
Astronomers will continue to study the region, attempting to uncover what makes 30 Doradus so prolific at creating stars compared to other star formation regions within the Milky Way. www.almaobservatory.org