Astronomy Picture of the Day ·

Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula

The Astronomy Picture of the Day for May 18, 2010 is “Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula,” an image. It is credited to Credit: ESO ; Acknowledgments: J. Alves ( Calar Alto ), B. Vandame, and Y. Beletsky ( ESO ); Processing by B. Fosbury ( ST-ECF ). The original explanation runs about 145 words.

Tentacles of the Tarantula Nebula
Credit: ESO ; Acknowledgments: J. Alves ( Calar Alto ), B. Vandame, and Y. Beletsky ( ESO ); Processing by B. Fosbury ( ST-ECF ) Shown from science.nasa.gov. Not hosted by OpenOrbit.

From the explanation

“The largest, most violent star forming region known in the whole Local Group of galaxies lies in our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Were the Tarantula Nebula at the distance of the Orion Nebula — a local star forming region — it would take up fully half the sky.”

— APOD editors, May 18, 2010

Read the full explanation on science.nasa.gov

At a glance

Date
May 18, 2010
Type
Image
Credit
Credit: ESO ; Acknowledgments: J. Alves ( Calar Alto ), B. Vandame, and Y. Beletsky ( ESO ); Processing by B. Fosbury ( ST-ECF )
Copyright
No copyright notice on the entry. Check the credited institution’s own usage rules before reusing it.
Explanation length
About 145 words

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Topics in this entry

OrionNebulaeGalaxies

Topics are matched from words in the title and explanation.

On this day: May 18 in other years

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Source

Copy taken Oct 28, 2026, 2:39 AM EDT. The image and explanation belong to their creators. OpenOrbit is not affiliated with or endorsed by NASA.