The Caldwell Objects

103
a hangman's noose, can be seen at the bar's
southern end. Another nebulous arm juts from
the bar's northern end, then heads northwest
before curving slightly south to all but touch a
slightly swollen cluster of stars. Together the
noose, the arm, and the cluster look remarkably
like a wide-eyed celestial seahorse navigating an
ocean of nebulosity.
Due east of the Tarantula's central star
cluster, a small but bright coil of nebulosity
encompasses a dark bay, east of which lies
another larger, though less conspicuous, bay
encircled by a faint prominence of feathery
408
nebulosity. The southern extension of this latter
feature flows into the eastern edge of the "hangman's
noose," forming the True Lover's Knot (a
bowknot used as a symbol of love). This name
was assigned to the nebula by the imaginative
and romantic 19th-century explorer of the skies,
Adm. William Henry Smyth.
The Tarantula's grandeur does not end with
these loops. Bright nebulous extensions, each
laced with wisps of fine detail, can be traced to
the north and west, and several stellar groupings
lie in and around the glowing gaseous loops. The
fact that amateur astronomers can see so much
detail in a galaxy other than our Milky Way is a
marvel unto itself. If the Tarantula Nebula were
as close as the Orion Nebula, it would illuminate
a patch of sky nearly 60° across, outshining
Venus. Keep that in mind when looking through
the eyepiece at the Tarantula Nebula, and the
object will transcend its ghostly appearance and
stand before you as a rare vision of celestial
magnificence.
By the way, despite the Tarantula's association
with the LMC, which is summarily considered
a Southern Hemisphere object, the
nebula can be seen from the Northern Hemisphere
during upper culmination. Kevin
Krisciunas observed Supernova 1987A after it
appeared about 18' west and 10' south of the
Tarantula's core. He was standing on the nearly
14,000-foot summit of Mauna Kea on the Big
Island of Hawaii (19° 50' Ν latitude).
Deep-Sky Companions: The Caldwell Objects