The nearest and most opulent stellar factory
resides 170,000 light-years away in a turbulent
star-birth region called 30 Doradus. Many
of the diamond-like blue stars are among the
hottest and most massive stars known. The
brilliant stars are unleashing a torrent of
ultraviolet light and hurricane-force stellar
winds that are etching away at the hydrogen
gas cloud in which the stars were born. The
nebula is close enough to Earth to give astronomers
important clues about the birth and evolution
of stars in the universe.
