The Tarantula Nebula

Located inside the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) – one of our closest galaxies – in what some describe as a frightening sight, the Tarantula nebula is worth looking at in detail. Also known as 30 Doradus or NGC 2070, the nebula owes its name to the arrangement of its bright patches that somewhat resemble the legs of a tarantula. Taking the name of one of the biggest spiders on Earth is very fitting in view of the gigantic proportions of this celestial nebula — it measures nearly 1,000 light years across ! Its proximity, the favourable inclination of the LMC, and the absence of intervening dust make this nebula one of the best laboratories to better understand the formation of massive stars. This spectacular nebula is energised by an exceptionally high concentration of massive stars, often referred to as super star clusters. This image is based on data acquired with the 1.5 m Danish telescope at the ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile, through three filters (B: 80 s, V: 60 s, R: 50 s).

Bildnachweis:

ESO/IDA/Danish 1.5 m/R. Gendler, C. C. Thöne, C. Féron, and J.-E. Ovaldsen

Über das Bild

ID:tarantula
Typ:Beobachtung
Veröffentlichungsdatum:3. Dezember 2009 23:19
Größe:2037 x 2077 px

Über das Objekt

Name:30 Doradus, Large Magellanic Cloud, LMC, NGC 2070, Tarantula Nebula
Typ:Local Universe : Nebula
Entfernung:170000 Lichtjahre
Constellation:Dorado
Kategorie:Nebulae

Bildformate

Großes JPEG
1,9 MB

Bildschirm-Hintergrundbilder

1024x768
451,7 KB
1280x1024
687,8 KB
1600x1200
942,1 KB
1920x1200
1,1 MB
2048x1536
1,4 MB

Koordinaten

Position (RA):5 38 42.61
Position (Dec):-69° 6' 3.89"
Field of view:13.43 x 13.70 arcminutes
Orientierung:Die Nordrichtung liegt 134.7° rechts zur Vertikale

Farben & Filter

SpektralbereichTeleskop
Optisch
B
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optisch
V
Danish 1.54-metre telescope
Optisch
R
Danish 1.54-metre telescope