NGC 2070 Tarantula

[Falcon 63]

Hi everyone,

Another blast from the past
sketched this neb 5 years ago over a weekend at a dark site 1 hour north of Perth.
I remember this being a real challenge on the optics.

Cheers
Wayne.

[kt4hx]

Thanks Wayne, its always interesting to look at where we've been in the past with our observing/sketching/AP endeavors. I actually observed this object five years ago from a location just south of the equator. Even though my conditions were not great and I only had my 10x50 binoculars and ED80 scope with me, it was easily seen. I could not however, see its host galaxy, the LMC. It was simply washed out in the sky. I was surprised at how bright the nebula was though. Anyway, here is what I noted about it back then:


NGC 2070 (Dorado, Emission Nebula, mag=8.3, size=40.0’):

To be honest, having been unable to see the LMC visually thus far due to the pasty appearance of my lower southern declinations, I wasn’t too sure about this object. This gargantuan object is considered to be the largest known emission nebula. It is known by other names such as the Tarantula Nebula, 30 Doradus and also Caldwell 103, and I read once that if this enormous nebula were within our galaxy at the same distance as M42 (Orion Nebula) that it would extend over an area twice the size of the Big Dipper asterism – now that is huge! Anyway, since the thin clouds were giving me some fits with NGC 1901 I decided to give this one a shot. Moving slowly eastward from the cluster, I passed over a 6th magnitude star, then a little over 1° beyond it I found a 7th mag star, and surprisingly enough, even through some thin clouds, less than half a degree SSE of this star was a small, round nebulous patch, easily seen through the clouds and without a filter at 26x. I admit I was stunned. Even under the conditions I was observing it, low in the sky through clouds and muck, it was much brighter visually than was M42 near the zenith away from clouds and the marine layer. And it isn’t even in our galaxy! I quickly tried both the DGM NPB and my Orion O-III filters. It reacted to both, though seemingly more with the O-III, which is what the Interstellarum recommends. But again it was easy without a filter. I checked it at 40x and 71x, and it was rounded, but irregularly so, with an intensely bright center. Using either filter it did become visually larger, but for the most part I was seeing its center and losing any of its dimmer extended portions to the sky conditions. Though I did not see the embedded open cluster, NGC 2060, its impact was quite evident in the brightness I was seeing. So wow, this really excited me and made my struggles all the more worthwhile! Now if I could just get the clarity to actually see the LMC that would be the pinnacle. (New object)

[helicon]

I don't think we've had any sketches of NGC 2070 so far, and not too many reports on it as well save for Alan's. Thanks for the fine sketch Wayne and for your five-year old observation of this object which classifies as a "Classic" VROD, as the program only dates back to May 2020 here on the forum. I hope that others will be able to catch this interesting sight.

[Makuser]

Hi Wayne. A superb sketch of the Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) from your southern hemisphere location. It is always a treat to see some of the older classic DSO object reports on here. Thanks for sharing this fine art work with us on here Wayne and congratulations on receiving the TSS VROD Award today.

[John Baars]

So many stars are an ultimate challenge for a sketcher! It must be hundreds of them. What an immense work!
Truly well earned VROD, congratulations!

[mariosi]

Excellent work Wayne!

[messier 111]

fine work, thx .