The Tarantula Nebula

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Meade 14" SBig ST-8

Orion ED80, SBig ST-8

Meade 14", Canon 300D

Common Name: The Tarantula Nebula Other Names: NGC 2070, 30 Doradus, Great Looped Nebula, True Lovers knot RA: 05 : 38.7 Dec -69 : 06 Constellation: Doradus Distance: 179 000 light years Magnitude: 8 Telescope: Orion ED80 Camera: SBig ST-8 Filters: CBVR Exposure: 10:10:10:10 (40 mins) Date: Oct 2006 Where: Tenby Observatory, Coonabarabran Lat: 31 16 35.05 S, Long 149 11 33.99 E, Elevation 547 metres Notes: Discovered in 1751 by Lacaille. It is an extragalactic nebula some 1000 lightyears across in the Large Magallenic Cloud. It is so vast that if it were as close as the Orion Nebula )1500 light years distant it would span 60 full moons across the sky. It would even be visible in the daytime. The nebula is a region of ionised hydrogen excited by the large stars within it. It is also a stellar nursery. The formation of this nebula is thought to have been caused by interations between the Milky Way and the Large Magallenic Cloud.