Astronomy Picture of the Day . ... Credit Copyright: M. Schirmer, T. Erben, M. Lombardi ( IAEF Bonn ), European Southern Observatory Explanation: The Tarantula Nebula is more than 1,000 light-years across - a giant emission nebula within our neighboring galaxy the Large Magellanic Cloud . ... Also notable among the denizens of the Tarantula zone are several dark clouds invading the nebula's outer limits as well as the dense cluster of stars NGC 2100 at the extreme left edge of the picture. ...