Tarantula & Friends in Narrow Band

NGC 2070 imaged in narrow band filters displays the colors of a Tropical Spider.  The Tarantula Nebula in Dorado, the goldfish constellation, is the most active star forming area in or around the Milky Way.  At 180,000 light years distant, this nebula is extremly luminous, and in fact if it was only 1500 light years away like the Orion Nebula it would cast shadows on the earth at night.  It has also displayed the closest supernova to earth, Supernova 1987A, since man has been looking at the skies with the aid of the telescope.  Since its description as a nebula rather than a star by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille in 1751 more powerful optics and other techniques, like narrow band imaging, have disclosed the intricate nature of this arachnoid.  A more traditional RGB image of this object also reveals interesting detail.

This is the First Light image from the FSQ/STL 11000 which was installed on our 2008 trip to CTIO.