Tarantula Nebula

This image was taken on my recent trip to the Las Campanas observatory complex in Chile. It is a 6 x 15 minute exposure in H-alpha of the Tarantula nebula located in the Large Magellanic Cloud.

If this nebula were located in the Milky Way, it would be bright like the full Moon and would spread half way across the sky. There would be almost nothing else to see in the night sky.

Taken with an AP 305F8 Mak-Cass astrograph and 16803 FLI CCD camera. This is equipment that we installed at Las Campanas and will be used for educational purposes as well as remote imaging.

Rolando

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Las Campanas is one of about 5 observatory complexes located in a line of mountain ridges approximately 7000 ft elevation that stretches north and south in the foothills of the Andes. From the mountaintops you can see La Silla and Cerro Tololo observatories in the distance. Others are located further north in the drier Atacama desert.

Las Campanas has many telescopes, from the original 40 inch Cassegrain to the twin 6.2 meter Magellan telescope. We were fortunate to be able to visit several of the large telescopes and talk to the astronomers about their observing programs. Climbing around the catwalk of the Magellan domes and also climbing up the actual 6.2 meter telescope and examining some of the instrumentation and the huge mirror was a highlight of my trip.

Las Campanas and the other observatories located on these mountain ridges are known for their excellent seeing, at times around 0.25 arc seconds. Of course it is also extremely dark and transparent up there due to the low humidity, typically less than 10%. The attached image shows the typical seeing that we got with the 305mm Mak-Cass astrograph. It was not an especially good night according to the professional astronomers who came to see our scope's first light (being "only" 0.6 arc sec), but I would take that kind of seeing any time here in Illinois.

First light focus test of the Trapezium

Rolando

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Amazing shot! A lot of detail to look at. Thanks for sharing! Paul

Wowza! That is a great shot. Amazing details and the scale is marvelous.