Tarantula nebula. Enhanced optical image of the Tarantula nebula (NGC 2070, 30 Doradonis) in the constellation Dorado. This immense nebula is in one of our galaxy's satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This small galaxy lies around 170,000 light years from Earth. The nebula is a huge cloud of hydrogen gas ionised by hot, young stars at its centre. It is thought to cover over 5000 light years, dwarfing any such nebula in our galaxy. The great Orion nebula, by comparison, is about 15 light years wide. This image was produced by a CCD (charge-coupled device) camera, which stores images electronically rather than on film.