Hubble captures dramatic image of nebula

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GREENBELT, Md., April 17 (UPI) -- A new photo from the Hubble Space Telescope has captured a panoramic view of a nearby nebula, revealing a bright heart of massive stars, astronomers say.

The photo released Tuesday is a mosaic, one of the largest ever built from Hubble images, of a region knows as 30 Doradus, the brightest star-forming region in our galactic neighborhood and home to the most massive stars ever seen, a release from the European Space Agency/Hubble Information Center said.

The image is being released in celebration of the 22nd anniversary of the Hubble telescope, launched April 24, 1990.

The nebula, 170,000 light years from Earth, is close enough that Hubble can resolve individual stars, giving important information about stars' birth and evolution, astronomers said.

They said 30 Doradus is a star-forming factory, churning out stars at a furious pace over millions of years.

The Hubble image shows star clusters of various ages, from about 2 million to about 25 million years old, they said.