The VLT-FLAMES
Tarantula Survey

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey is a European Southern Observatory (ESO) Large Programme which has obtained multi-epoch FLAMES spectroscopy of over 900 stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).

30 Dor is our closest view of a starburst-like region in the local universe, giving us a unique laboratory in which to study stellar and cluster evolution. It is both massive (~5x10⁴ solar masses) and young (1-2 Myr), meaning that it is a rich stellar nursery, with many examples of the rare, short-lived evolutionary phases of the most massive stars.

The FLAMES survey now has an unprecedented dataset of multi-epoch observations of the stellar content of 30 Dor. We will analyse these data to provide answers to fundamental questions such as the effects that stellar rotation has on the evolution of a star, the binary fraction of stars in 30 Dor, how binarity affects stellar evolution, and to study the gas and stellar dynamics in this intricate and beautiful cluster, to provide input for models of star and cluster formation.

A short summary of the project was given in Estrela D'Alva at the IAU GA: JPG copy / Full copy