Nebulae · Nebula · H II region
A huge star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Explore its views, where their colours came from, and palettes you can use.
Featured palette: Webb near-infrared view, 2022 (Sampled from this image)
#5D4A46#342623#191717#523933#76554A#987D73#C5B3AE
Credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. · released 6 September 2022
About Tarantula Nebula
A huge star-forming region in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
| Classification | Nebula (H II region) |
|---|---|
| Identifiers | NGC 2070 |
| Distance | 170,000 light-yearsdistance stated by the image publisher · ESA/Hubble |
| Observed light (this view) | 900 nm (shown as blue), 2.0 μm (shown as green), molecular hydrogen (shown as orange), 4.44 μm (shown as red) |
Why these colours?
Hubble panorama, 2012
Hubble filters assigned to visible colours. Filters listed by the publisher: OIII (501 nm), H-alpha (656 nm), I (775 nm), I (775 nm).
From: Hubble panorama, 2012 Multiwavelength composite
Webb near-infrared view, 2022
Infrared light; colours assigned by the Webb team. Filters listed by the publisher: 900 nm (shown as blue) (900 nm), 2.0 μm (shown as green) (2 µm), molecular hydrogen (shown as orange) (4.7 µm), 4.44 μm (shown as red) (4.44 µm).
From: Webb near-infrared view, 2022 Mapped non-visible data
Colour clusters describe pixels in an image; they cannot identify a mineral, a gas or a physical temperature. Shares of pixels describe the sampled region of the image, not the object’s surface.
Colours from selected views
Palettes sampled from identified images and regions, or calculated from a documented model. These values describe each image or model, not one permanent colour of Tarantula Nebula.
Hubble panorama, 2012
Sampled from this image · Hubble panorama, 2012
#635C59RGB 99, 92, 89region average#373639RGB 55, 54, 5728% of the region#1A2330RGB 26, 35, 4825% of the region#564D48RGB 86, 77, 7220% of the region#786B60RGB 120, 107, 9613% of the region#A19586RGB 161, 149, 1348% of the region#D3CCC1RGB 211, 204, 1936% of the region
See where these colours came from
Webb near-infrared view, 2022
Sampled from this image · Webb near-infrared view, 2022
#5D4A46RGB 93, 74, 70region average#342623RGB 52, 38, 3530% of the region#191717RGB 25, 23, 2324% of the region#523933RGB 82, 57, 5120% of the region#76554ARGB 118, 85, 7413% of the region#987D73RGB 152, 125, 1159% of the region#C5B3AERGB 197, 179, 1745% of the region
See where these colours came from
Creative palettes inspired by Tarantula Nebula
A design derived from the selected representation. It is not a scientific colour measurement. Each colour keeps the sampled colour it was made from.
Inspired by Tarantula Nebula
Inspired by this object
#252E3CRGB 37, 46, 60from #1A2330#4F4E51RGB 79, 78, 81from #373639#7A706BRGB 122, 112, 107from #564D48#A39589RGB 163, 149, 137from #786B60#C9BDADRGB 201, 189, 173from #A19586#EEE7DCRGB 238, 231, 220from #D3CCC1
Colours of the first view of Tarantula Nebula with their lightness spread evenly, for a design palette.
Explore the views
Pick a colour from the image. Click or tap the picture to read a colour. Picked colours are yours, not catalogue samples.
No supported 3D model is available for this view. You can still inspect the source imagery and palette.
Use these colours
Every palette above opens in the palette generator. With JavaScript you can also add colours to your cosmic palette, save them, make a gradient or pattern, preview them in a design or a room (you choose which colour goes on which surface), check digital accessibility and export them. Each colour keeps the view and sample it came from.
Paint matches compare digital swatches for design inspiration. They are not physical equivalents of light from space. Edits create a new design palette. The original representation remains unchanged.
Sources
- Hubble FAQs — image processing and colour — NASA
- Hubble's panoramic view of a star-forming region — ESA/Hubble
- Tarantula Nebula (NIRCam Image) — ESA/Webb
Image credits
- Hubble panorama, 2012: NASA, ESA, ESO, D. Lennon and E. Sabbi (ESA/STScI), J. Anderson, S. E. de Mink, R. van der Marel, T. Sohn, and N. Walborn (STScI), N. Bastian (Excellence Cluster, Munich), L. Bedin (INAF, Padua), E. Bressert (ESO), P. Crowther (Sheffield), A. de Koter (Amsterdam), C. Evans (UKATC/STFC, Edinburgh), A. Herrero (IAC, Tenerife), N. Langer (AifA, Bonn), I. Platais (JHU) and H. Sana (Amsterdam). CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 e132dd119d87a69a36bd4dfaf7365eac7509447adf8f10e99eefd1e9f7efbbb7).
- Webb near-infrared view, 2022: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI. CC BY 4.0. Resized for the web from the publisher’s file (sha256 1b68bc784c7d68b7b4e42b72763aa4c27160c30bb743bd2692a9057e1df85707).
Images were resized once for the web; colours were measured from the published files (k-means in OKLab, pcke-oklab-kmeans-1); calculated colours use the CIE 1931 2° observer. Facts last reviewed 25 October 2026. Catalogue pcke-cosmos-2026-10-25, page revision b62e623408bf. No ESA, ESO or NASA endorsement is implied.