The Tarantula Zone Credit & Copyright: John P. Gleason Explanation: The Tarantula Nebula is more than 1,000 light-years in diameter -- a giant star forming region within our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). That cosmic arachnid lies left of center in this sharp, colorful telescopic image taken through narrow-band filters. It covers a part of the LMC over 2,000 light-years across. Within the Tarantula (NGC 2070), intense radiation, stellar winds and supernova shocks from the central young cluster of massive stars, cataloged as R136, energize the nebular glow and shape the spidery filaments. Around the Tarantula are other violent star-forming regions with young star clusters, filaments and bubble-shaped clouds. The rich field is about as wide as the full Moon on the sky, located in the southern constellation Dorado.
Wow great picture, I was about to set it as my desktop, but it doesn't fit right so it would be distorted, do you know of any sites with other great pictures like this? I have a huge book full of them on my shelf, but i want one as my desktop - anyone know a good place to look?
Check out NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day! They have massive archives full of stuff like that. Try nosing around on torrent sites, too. I did a search for wallpapers on TPB once and it turned up a folder of over 600 freaking awesome space wallpapers. I wish I still had the link...
Hey thanks a lot! Yea there is a picture for every day on the NASA site from back in '96, so i'm sure something is bound to be good there And i'll search around pirate bay and see what i can find
That really makes me want to buy a top of the line telescope and sit outside after a sesh. Great picture
Are you kidding? You can't see anything close to that with a home telescope! Even an expensive 12" looks like shit... You'll never match the Hubble...
Never said I'd match it, or be anywhere near, not sure where you read that lol. It just makes me want to stare out into space be it with a home telescope or with my own two eyes. You need to calm down, and read carefully.
I ask again...why? You aren't going to see shit through a home level telescope. Why waste your time? just look at Hubble pictures or use your eyes... Unless you look at the moon, everything is going to be blurry... I'm trying to save you from wasting money on a telescope...that's all.
Actually, you can see some pretty cool stuff with home telescopes (nebula's, galaxies, etc.) This was taken with a refractor telescope made by Orion