| Emission nebula | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Observation data: J2000epoch | |
| Right ascension | 05h 39m 03.0s[3] |
| Declination | −69° 29′ 54″[3] |
| Distance | 170,000 ly (52,000 pc) |
| Constellation | Dorado[1] |
| Designations | GC 1272, JH 2942 |
| See also:Lists of nebulae | |
NGC 2074 is a magnitude ~8emission nebula in theTarantula Nebula located in theconstellationDorado. It was discovered on 3 August 1826 byJames Dunlopand around 1835 byJohn Herschel. It is described as being "pretty bright, pretty large, much extended, [and having] 5 stars involved".[3]
Some of the objects catalogued by Herschel before 1847 do not have a discovery date listed, and NGC 2074 is one of them. Though its inclusion in the catalog of objects observed in theLarge Magellanic Cloud which involves observations carried out between 2 November 1836 and 26 March 1837 shows it must not have been discovered later than that.[3]
The observation of NGC 2074 by Dunlop was not identified as this object until recently.[3]
NGC 2074 is located around 170,000 light-years (1.1×1010 AU) away. The area has a lot of raw stellar creation, possibly triggered by a nearby supernova explosion and is on the edge of a dark molecular cloud which is an incubator for the birth of new stars.[2]
Media related toNGC 2074 at Wikimedia Commons