First Results from the Faint Object Camera: High-Resolution Observations of the Central Object R136 in the 30 Doradus Nebula
Boksenberg, A.; Barbieri, C.; Weigelt, G.; Nota, A.; Crane, P.; Baxter, D.; Sparks, W. B.; Albrecht, R.; Blades, J. C.; Deharveng, J. M.; Disney, M. J.; Jakobsen, P.; Kamperman, T. M.; King, I. R.; Macchetto, F.; Mackay, C. D.; Paresce, F.; Greenfield, P.; Jedrzejewski, R.
Germany, Netherlands, Italy, United States, United Kingdom, France
Abstract
R 136 is the luminous central object of the giant H II region 30 Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We report on the first high- resolution observations of RI 36 with the Faint Object Camera on board the Hubble Space Telescope. The physical nature of the brightest component R136a has been a matter of some controversy over the last few years. The UV images obtained show that R136a is a very compact star cluster consisting of more than eight stars within 0.7" diameter. From these high-resolution images a mass upper limit can be derived for the most luminous stars observed in R136.