With a radius of nearly 800 light years, 30 Doradus, also known as the Tarantula Nebula or NGC 2070-30d, is by far the largest nebula in the known universe. Indeed, some of the great looping filaments seen in this image extend up to 1,800 light years. The nebula is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a companion galaxy to our own Milky Way.
A strong radio source, the Tarantula Nebula emits radio waves more powerful than those of any other object in its home galaxy. The Tarantula Nebula is also one of the brightest emission nebulae ever discovered. The intense bright zone in its center is a cluster of more than 100 blue supergiant stars. These massive stars excite vast clouds of hydrogen up to 400 light years away.
