Celestial hemisphere:  Southern  ·  Constellation: Dorado (Dor)  ·  Contains:  30 Dor Cluster  ·  NGC 2033  ·  NGC 2037  ·  NGC 2042  ·  NGC 2044  ·  NGC 2048  ·  NGC 2050  ·  NGC 2052  ·  NGC 2055  ·  NGC 2060  ·  NGC 2069  ·  NGC 2070  ·  NGC 2074  ·  NGC 2077  ·  NGC 2078  ·  NGC 2079  ·  NGC 2080  ·  NGC 2081  ·  NGC 2083  ·  NGC 2084  ·  NGC 2091  ·  NGC 2093  ·  NGC 2100  ·  Tarantula Nebula
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The Tarantula Nebula, Sean Liang
The Tarantula Nebula
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The Tarantula Nebula

Getting plate-solving status, please wait...
The Tarantula Nebula, Sean Liang
The Tarantula Nebula
Powered byPixInsight

The Tarantula Nebula

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Description

The Tarantula Nebula, also known as 'the 'True Lovers' Knot'. It lies in the heart of the Large Magellanic Cloud.
There is a lot going on in this region at first glance. Most of the energy comes from an incredibly energetic open cluster called NGC 2070 in its centre. Astronomers believe it's even in the process of forming a super star cluster. The nebula also contains the second most massive star and the closest supernova observed since the invention of the telescope.
Fun fact: the Tarantula Nebula is 160,000 light-years away from us but extremely bright. In fact, if it's as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast shadows.
(The raw data behind this image was from the public archive on Telescope Live, which I processed using PixInsight and Photoshop)

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The Tarantula Nebula, Sean Liang