NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope presents a new perspective on 30 Doradus, or the Tarantula Nebula, a region well-known to astronomers studying star formation. Its nickname once came from its resemblance to the spider itself, but in Webb’s view the overall region takes on the appearance of a tarantula’s home—a burrow lined with its own spun silk. The Tarantula Nebula shelters thousands of young and still-forming stars, many revealed by Webb for the first time. 

A range of Webb’s high-resolution infrared instruments, working together, reveal the stars, structure, and composition of the nebula with a level of detail not previously possible. Astronomers will use Webb throughout its mission to gain insight into star formation and the stellar lifecycle, the implications of which extend to our own star, the Sun, as well as the formation of the heavy chemical elements that are integral to life as we know it.