Tarantula and LMC

Tarantula Nebula and part of the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Tarantula Nebula is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within our nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud, about 180 thousand light-years away. It's located in the southern constellation Dorado. The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies.

There is a young cluster of massive stars in the centre of the Tarantula which is responsible for intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks. It energizes the nebular glow and shapes the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other star forming regions with young star clusters, filaments, and blown-out bubble-shaped clouds. In fact, the frame includes the site of the closest supernova in modern times, SN 1987A, right of center. If Tarantula Nebula was closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the local star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky!

Telescope.Live, Takahashi FSQ-106ED to photograph this magnificent object. One of my most favourite so far amongst the images I have acquired using Telescope.Live robotic telescopes.

Observation details

HAlpha - 2x300

OIII - 2x300

SII- 2x300

Red - 2x300

Green - 2x300

Blue- 2x300

PixInsight - PixMath Combination

Red - 0.1*Red + 0.9*HAlpha

Green - 0.1*Green + 0.9*OIII

Blue - 0.4*Blue + 0.6*SII

Porcessing: PixInsight, GIMP and DeepSkyStacker

Photographed on 05 Jan 2021

Telescope.Live, Heaven's Mirror

Observatory, Australia

Telescope: Takahashi FSQ-106ED

Aperture: 106 mm

Focal Length: 382 mm

F-ratio: 3.6 (with 0.73x focal reducer)

Camera: FLI PL16083

Pixel Size: 9 μm

Pixel Array: 4096 x 4096

Pixel Resolution: 4.74 arcsec/pixel

Cooling: -25 degrees

Filters: Astrodon LRGB 2GEN, Ha (3nm), SII (3nm), OIII (3nm);