tarantula nebula - NGC 2070

Image Description:

At the beginning of our presentation of the southern sky, we see the spectacular tarantula nebula, catalogue NGC 2070 or 30 Doradus, today in the constellation Swordfish. The last name comes from the explorer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille who saw him as a star in 1751 and therefore gave a star number. The fog is located in the Great Magellanian cloud approx. 163 000 light years away. It is one of the largest star emerging areas in our local galaxy group. He is stimulated by the star cluster R136 in his midst. The pile houses the most well-known and brightest star R136a1 with 265 solar masses and 10 million times luminosity and another two stars with about 150 solar masses.

Copyright: Hans Bernd Dörfeldt