Tarantula nebula WISE

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Sending chills down the spine of all arachnophobes is the Tarantula Nebula, seen in this image from NASAs Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE). Located in the southern constellation of Dorado, the Tarantula nebula is a giant star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud galaxy. This irregular dwarf galaxy orbits our Milky Way galaxy. It is relatively close, in galactic terms, at about 160,000 light-years away from Earth. Its motion around the Milky Way causes compression of interstellar dust and gas at is leading edge. This has led to a huge burst of star formation, creating the Tara