Gigantic Nebula Image: A 500MB Snapshot of the Cosmos

An image of two prominent nebulae within the Large Magellanic Cloud. The upper portion features a large, reddish nebula with intricate, wispy structures and scattered bright blue stars, indicating regions of active star formation. The lower left shows a smaller, bright blue nebula with a ring-like shape. The contrast between the red and blue hues highlights the different types of gases and star-forming activities within these regions. The dark background is dotted with numerous stars, adding depth to the image.

This photograph features the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbour NGC 2020, part of a vast star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud , a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, approximately 163,000 light years away.

A detailed image of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. The image is filled with numerous labeled celestial objects, including star clusters, nebulae, and regions of star formation, designated by their catalog numbers (e.g., NGC 1763, NGC 2070). The LMC's central bar structure is visible, along with various bright and colorful regions indicating areas of active star formation. The orientation is marked with arrows pointing North (N) and West (W) in the upper left corner. The image highlights the rich and complex structure of the LMC. — Among the various named regions of the Large Magellanic Cloud are the nebulae.

It's one of the most photogenic examples of the turbulent images observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in its 30-year lifetime.

This image was highlighted as the space photograph of the day on our YouTube channel.

For those interested, the full-sized image is accessible via the provided link.

Cosmic Reef | HubbleSite