Object: The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus) is a large H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), forming its south-east corner (from Earth’s perspective).
The Tarantula Nebula has an apparent magnitude of 8. Considering its distance of about 160,000 light-years, this is an extremely luminous non-stellar object. Its luminosity is so great that if it were as close to Earth as the Orion Nebula, the Tarantula Nebula would cast visible shadows. In fact, it is the most active starburst region known in the Local Group of galaxies. It is also one of the largest H II regions in the Local Group with an estimated diameter around 200 to 570 pc, and also because of its very large size, it is sometimes described as the largest, although other H II regions such as NGC 604, which is in the Triangulum Galaxy, could be larger. The nebula resides on the leading edge of the LMC where ram pressure stripping, and the compression of the interstellar medium likely resulting from this, is at a maximum.
Taken: April 9 & October 1, 2022 at El Sauce Observatory, Río Hurtado, Coquimbo Region, Chile
Telescope: Planewave CDK24 610mm aperture f/6.5
Mount: Mathis MI-1000/1250 with absolute encoders
Camera: FLI PL 9000
Filters used: 50mm Astrodon LRGB 2GEN
Exposures: 4×600 seconds luminosity, 4×600 seconds red, 4×600 seconds green and 5×600 seconds blue for a total exposure time of 2.83 hours; calibrated with 10 dark frames, 10 flat frames and 10 bias frames.
Processed with PixInsight, Photoshop CC 2022
Image Processed By Dale A. Chamberlain; Original raw data and calibrations files from Telescope Live