NGC 2070 (also known as Caldwell 103) is a large

open cluster An open cluster is a type of star cluster made of up to a few thousand stars that were formed from the same giant molecular cloud and have roughly the same age. More than 1,100 open clusters have been discovered within the Milky Way galaxy, an ...

and candidate super star cluster forming the heart of the bright region in the centre-south-east of the Large Magellanic Cloud. It is at the centre of the

Tarantula Nebula The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus) is a large H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), forming its south-east corner (from Earth's perspective). Discovery The Tarantula Nebula was observed by Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille durin ...

and produces most of the energy that makes the latter's gas and dust visible. Its central condensation is the star cluster

R136 R136 (formerly known as RMC 136 from the Radcliffe Observatory Magellanic Clouds catalogue) is the central concentration of stars in the NGC 2070 star cluster, which lies at the centre of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Wh ...

, one of the most energetic star clusters known. Among its stars are many of great dimension, including the second most massive star known,

R136a1 R136a1 (short for RMC 136a1) is one of the most massive and luminous stars known, at and nearly 4.7 million , and is also one of the hottest, at around . It is a Wolf–Rayet star at the center of R136, the central concentration of s ...

, at 215 and 6.16 million .

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:NGC 2070

2070 In contemporary history, the third millennium of the anno Domini or Common Era in the Gregorian calendar is the current millennium spanning the years 2001 to 3000 (21st to 30th centuries). Ongoing futures studies seek to understand what is li ...

Tarantula Nebula Dorado (constellation) Open clusters Large Magellanic Cloud Star-forming regions