VFTS 682 is located in an active star-forming region, at a projected distance of 29 pc from the young massive cluster R136 in the Tarantula Nebula of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It was previously reported as a candidate young stellar object, and more recently spectroscopically revealed as a hydrogen-rich Wolf-Rayet (WN5h) star. Our aim is to obtain

We report the discovery that R139 in 30 Doradus is a massive spectroscopic binary system. Multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of R139 was obtained as part of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey, revealing a double-lined system. The two components are of similar spectral types; the primary exhibits strong C III λ4650 emission and is classified as an O6.5

The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) is an ESO Large Programme that has obtained multi-epoch optical spectroscopy of over 800 massive stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Here we introduce our scientific motivations and give an overview of the survey targets, including optical and near-infrared photometry and

Based on observations at the European Southern Observatory in programmes 171.0237 and 073.0234.

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Over the past years observations of young and populous star clusters have shown that the stellar initial mass function (IMF) can be conveniently described by a two-part power-law with an exponent α2 = 2.3 for stars more massive than about 0.5 M&sun; and an exponent of α1 = 1.3 for less massive stars. A consensus has also emerged that most, if not