The Tarantula Nebula (NGC2070) is one of the largest star-forming regions in our part of the Universe, about 700 light-years across. By comparison, The Orion Nebula is 'just' 24 light-years wide! It sits within the Large Magellanic Cloud, and is the heart of a region of tremendous activity, star birth and death. Many other brilliant stars, nebulae and rich clusters fill the region. The energy from the massive clusters of stars (450,000 solar masses just in the central cluster of the Tarantula) ionises the gas particularly strongly. The area is also home to the brightest recent supernova, SN1987A (see closeup).

Unusually for emission nebulae (due to the remarkable environment), there is more green oxygen III emission than usual, competing with the usual pink/reddish colour of emission nebulae due to hydrogen. DSLR camera sensors are relatively less sensitive to deep red hydrogen emission than to green wavelengths, so this nebula appears green rather than red (in a CCD image it's usually red).