| Emission nebula | |
|---|---|
| |
| Observation data: J2000 epoch | |
| Right ascension | 05h39m 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 ~8 emission nebula in the Tarantula Nebula located in the constellation Dorado. It was discovered on 3 August 1826 by James Dunlop and around 1835 by John 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 the Large 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 to NGC 2074 at Wikimedia Commons
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