Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, fully calibrated stack from an equatorial-mode Seestar S30 Pro

Images and files

Record details

Object

Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070, 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Object type

Emission nebula (giant H II star-forming region) in a satellite galaxy

Right ascension (RA)

84.6712°

Declination (Dec)

-69.2138°

Reference frame (RADESYS)

ICRS (J2000), image centre from the Siril plate solve against Gaia DR3

Observation date (local)

2026-11-07

Start time

2026-11-07 01:07:17 (UTC+11:00)

End time

2026-11-07 02:49:45 (UTC+11:00)

Time scale (TIMESYS)

UTC

Time source

Network time

Telescope and instrument

ZWO Seestar S30 Pro (30 mm f/5.3 apochromat, built-in colour CMOS), equatorial (EQ) mode

Filter

Light-pollution dual-band (H-alpha and OIII)

Exposure time

30 s

Number of combined frames

115

Observing method

ZWO Seestar S30 Pro smart telescope (30 mm aperture, 160 mm focal length, f/5.3; 2160x3840 colour sensor, 2.9 μm pixels), built-in light-pollution (dual-band) filter, gain 200, sensor 23–24 °C. The scope was set up in equatorial (EQ) mode and polar-aligned with the Seestar app; capture was then run from Rob's computer through the Seestar's ASCOM Alpaca interface (raw frames, not the app's live stack): goto, plate-solve centring, small random dithers every 5 frames and re-centring every 40 frames. Night of 6–7 Nov 2026: 154 frames of 30 s (01:07–02:49 AEDT). Calibration in Siril 1.4: master bias (40 frames, 0.1 ms, internal dark shutter), master dark (25 x 30 s, 21.9–22.3 °C, internal dark shutter, hot-pixel correction), master flat (30 flats through the dual-band filter, 7 Nov dawn, cloth diffuser lit by a torch, bias-subtracted). Then debayered, registered (two-pass), the frames outside the best 90% by star sharpness (wFWHM) dropped (115 of 154 used), sigma-clipped (3/3) and stacked with wFWHM weighting. Plate-solved against the Gaia DR3 astrometric catalogue (3.665 arcsec/pixel, effective focal length 163.2 mm), RBF background gradient removal, and colour-corrected with Siril photometric colour calibration (PCC) using Gaia DR3 star colours (1491 stars). Then a linked auto-stretch and a mild saturation boost. No colour or detail painted in, no AI or star removal. North is up (within about 6°), east to the left. The main image is a crop with Rob's semi-transparent 'rme' signature; the full frame is attached without it.

Bias frames

40

Dark frames

25

Flat frames

30

Astrometric solution (plate solve)

Solved by contributor

Calibration level

Calibrated

Processing level

Stacked

Processing software

Siril 1.4.0-rc2 (calibration, stacking, plate solve, PCC with Gaia DR3); capture by Lens over the Seestar's ASCOM Alpaca interface

Description

The Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070, 30 Doradus) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small galaxy orbiting our own about 160,000 light-years away. It is the most active star-forming region known in our neighbourhood of galaxies: its glowing loops of gas are lit and blown about by a cluster of very hot, massive young stars at its heart. Around it are other nebulae and star clouds of the LMC. Only visible from the southern hemisphere.

Uncertainty remarks

About 57.5 minutes of 30 s frames. Flats were taken next morning after the scope had powered off; the focuser was returned to the same position (1270) and the filter and arm geometry were unchanged, but a small dust shift cannot be ruled out. Colours are calibrated against Gaia DR3 star colours (PCC) through a dual-band light-pollution filter, which passes mainly hydrogen-alpha and oxygen-III light, so colours are not true broadband colour. Distance is a literature value (about 160,000 light-years), not measured here. Site position deliberately generalised to the nearest whole degree (about 60 km) to protect a private home.

Data quality statement

[withheld: contains a location]

Source

154 raw Alpaca sub-frames Light_NGC 2070_30s_LP_20261107-010717 ... -024915 (FITS, read-only, 2026-11-07 01:07–02:49 AEDT); 2 frames at a wrong focus excluded (raw/subs-defocused); calibration frames darks-library/2026-11-06-night, calib-library/flats/2026-11-07-dawn/LP, calib-library/bias/2026-11-07; Siril log siril-20261107-siril.log; colour reference Gaia DR3 (ESA/Gaia/DPAC) via Siril local catalogue

Original FITS header retained

Yes

Place

Not shown on public record pages

From the Astronomy image profile, version 1.3.0, as signed for this record version. Not shown publicly: place, coordinate and site fields, fields the profile marks sensitive (such as observing times), and the names of observers, collectors and other credited people. In the title, captions and written descriptions, coordinates, street addresses, email addresses and phone numbers are replaced with a marker; other text, including any names or times written in it, is shown as the contributor wrote it.

Cite this record

Rob Evans (2026). Tarantula Nebula (NGC 2070) in the Large Magellanic Cloud, fully calibrated stack from an equatorial-mode Seestar S30 Pro. Clio Online Museum. https://cliomuseum.org/records/record-776920a4-28b6-4461-ac00-cb045513e6af

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https://cliomuseum.org/records/record-776920a4-28b6-4461-ac00-cb045513e6af

Published recordVersion 1

Creators

• Rob Evans https://orcid.org/0009-0004-6391-4464 (opens in a new tab) (verified with ORCID)

Version and provenance

Version identifier

version-9bda12b4-9a5d-49a0-89a6-f7980c5c5e5e

Canonical commitment

sha3-384:c5e6b80016d3f02ad93afab060c3f6e704fcc4460ccd1b8894b5f0d97e77c5e35b87ee2a63cf9d233427daa11702d90e

Accepted

2026-11-06

Evidence profile and standards

• FITS
• World Coordinate System (WCS)
• IVOA Provenance Data Model