First emission line image of the Tarantula Nebula, taken on 23/01/2013, using the UCT teaching telescope. The Tarantula Nebula (also known as 30 Doradus, or NGC 2070) is an H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It was originally thought to be a star, but in 1751 Nicolas Louis de Lacaille recognized its nebular nature. The image was fully reduced by Luc Turbide from the Université de Montréal. It consists of 10 x 5 minutes exposures in the Halpha and the OIII interference filters, added together. The gas in this region is ionized by the bright and massive OB stars in the Doradus region.