About Tarantula Nebula (C103)

Tarantula Nebula is a rewarding deep-sky target and shows up as a faint patch of light. It has moderate brightness.

Current visibility

Right now it is at about 9° altitude and reaches 21° around 01:59 PM.

It does not reach a useful observing altitude today.

Nebulae benefit from filters, subtle features are easily lost in bright skies.

Observing tips

It can be challenging under typical skies.

What to expect

In small telescopes it remains mostly unresolved.

Type

Emission Nebula

Constellation

Dorado

Distance

170000 ly

Size

Season

Winter

Difficulty

Easy

Magnitude

8