30 Doradus

Database links to 30 Doradus

Emission nebula
Dates of the tarantula nebula (30 Doradus)

The tarantula nebula captured by the Hubble Space Telescope
AladinLite
Constellation	Swordfish
Position equinox : J2000.0 , epoch : J2000.0
Right ascension	05 ^h 38 ^m 42.3 ^s
declination	-69 ° 06 ′ 03 ″
Appearance
Apparent brightness (visual)	8.0 likes
Apparent brightness (B-band)	5.0 likes
Angular expansion	30 '× 20'
Ionizing source
Physical data
distance	179,000 ly (52,000 pc )
history
discovery	Nicolas Louis de Lacaille
Date of discovery	1751
Catalog names
NGC 2070 • GC 1269 • h 2941 • ESO 57-EN6

30 Doradus (also Tarantula Nebula or NGC 2070 ) is the name of a very bright emission nebula located in the Large Magellanic Cloud in the constellation Swordfish (Dorado) . It is one of the largest known star formation regions in the local group and, despite its distance of 179,000 light years (52 kpc), can be seen in small telescopes. It has a diameter of 30 '× 20' (which corresponds to ≈2000 light years) and an apparent magnitude of 8.0 mag.

30 Doradus was discovered in 1751 by the French astronomer Nicolas Louis de Lacaille , who gave it a star number (30). John Herschel referred to it as the looped nebula because of the turbulence visible in the telescope .

The star cluster R136 embedded in the center excites the entire nebula complex to glow. It contains the most massive and brightest known star R136a1 (265 M☉, 10 ⁷ L☉) and two other stars with over 150 solar masses .

In the northern part of the Tarantula Nebula there is also the double cluster Hodge 301 . Some of its giant stars also illuminate the surrounding nebula, but at 25 million years it is much older than R136.

The tarantula nebula in infrared (recorded with the Spitzer Space Telescope ), overlaid in blue with images from the Chandra Space Telescope , which show the X-rays of hot shock fronts.