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Spend a couple of nights dialing back in the NJP & collimating the ‘scope after all the recent mods. Some of the powder coated surfaces were causing a couple of internal locknuts to slip, so PA and guiding were temporarily affected, but I’m 99% on top of that now.
Chose a target that I could image in a single night, and the biggest, brightest option was NGC 2070.
Reminiscent of a giant spiders web lurking in space!
Capture Details
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About this Nebula
The Tarantula Nebula is more than a thousand light-years in diameter, a giant star forming region within nearby satellite galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud. About 180 thousand light-years away, it’s the largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energise the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Were the Tarantula Nebula closer, say 1,500 light-years distant like the local star forming Orion Nebula, it would take up half the sky! (Apod)
“He looked about as inconspicuous as a tarantula on a slice of angel food.”
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