Hubble Space Telescope photographs the Tarantula nebula on 100,000th orbit of Earth

The NASA image captured by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, 2008 shows a small portion of the Tarantula nebula near the star cluster NGC 2074. The region is a frostier of raw stellar creation, perhaps triggered by a nearby supernova explosion. It lies about 170,000 light-years away from Earth and is one of the most active star-forming regions in our local group of galaxies. NASA's Hubble Space Telescope completed its 100,000th orbit of Earth on the morning if August 11, 2008. (UPI Photo/NASA)