UIT ultraviolet imaging of 30 Doradus

During the Astro-1 mission, near- and far-UV images of the 30 Doradus region were obtained using the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT). These wide-field, 40′ in diameter, high spatial resolution, 2-3″, UIT UV images reveal a rich field of luminous UV-bright stars, clusters, and associations. There are 181 stars brighter than m2558A=16.5 and 197 stars brighter than m1615A=16.4 within 3' diameter of the 30 Doradus central cluster. We have derived UV fluxes emitted from the 30 Doradus central cluster and from its UV bright core, R136. The region within 5" of R136 produces ∽ 14% of the far-UV flux (λ = 1892 A) and ∽ 16% of the near-UV flux (λ = 2558 A) emitted from the 3′ diameter central cluster. The derived UV luminosity of R136 at 1892 A is only 7.8 times that of the nearby 06-7 Iaf star, R139, and the M1892-MV colors of R136 are similar to other 0 or Wolf-Rayet stars in the same region. These UIT data, combined with other published observations at longer wavelengths, indicate that there is no observational evidence for a supermassive star in R136.