N11 (also known as LMC N11, LHA 120-N 11) is the brightest emission nebula in the north-west part of the

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

in the Dorado constellation. The N11 complex is the second largest H II region of that galaxy, the largest being the Tarantula Nebula. It covers an area approximately 6 arc minutes across. It has an elliptical shape and consists of a large bubble, generally clear interstellar area, surrounded by nine large nebulae. It was named by Karl Henize in 1956. When close-up, the nebula has pink clouds of glowing gas which resembles candy floss. It has been well studied over the years and extends 1,000 light-years across. Its particularly notable features include a huge cavity measuring 80 by 60 pc and a five million year old central cluster (

NGC 1761 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nat ...

). It is surrounded by several ionized clouds where young

O star An O-type star is a hot, blue-white star of spectral type O in the Yerkes classification system employed by astronomers. They have temperatures in excess of 30,000 kelvin (K). Stars of this type have strong absorption lines of ionised helium, st ...

s are forming. Several massive stars are within it, including LH 9, LH 10, LH 13, LH 14. It includes a supernova remnant N11L. In the very centre of NGC 1761 is a bright multiple star HD 32228 which contains a rare blue Wolf-Rayet star, type WC5 or WC6, and an O-type

bright giant A giant star is a star with substantially larger radius and luminosity than a main-sequence (or ''dwarf'') star of the same surface temperature.Giant star, entry in ''Astronomy Encyclopedia'', ed. Patrick Moore, New York: Oxford University Press ...

Bean Nebula

The brightest nebulosity within N11 is the northern region N11B (

NGC 1763 NGC 1763 (also known as N11 B, LH 10 or ESO 85-EN20) is an emission nebula with an embedded star cluster in the Dorado constellation in the Large Magellanic Cloud, It is very bright, very large and very irregular. Its apparent size is about 3.0-5. ...

), also known as the Bean Nebula because of its shape.

Other most notable nebulae

On N11B's north-east edge is the more compact N11A, known as the Rose Nebula, which has rose-like petals of gas and dust and are illuminated due to the massive hot stars within its centre. It is also known as IC 2116 and was catalogued as a star HD 32340. The east side of the N11 complex is N11C (

NGC 1769 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

), an emission nebula containing at least two compact open clusters. Outside the main "bubble" of N11 to the northeast is N11E, also known as

NGC 1773 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

, a small bright nebula containing several massive young stars. The south portion of the bubble is N11F, also called

NGC 1760 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

. The western portion of the bubble is faint and poorly-defined. To the south-west of N11 is the 7th magnitude

red giant A red giant is a luminous giant star of low or intermediate mass (roughly 0.3–8 solar masses ()) in a late phase of stellar evolution. The outer atmosphere is inflated and tenuous, making the radius large and the surface temperature around or ...

HD 31754, a foreground star/star system, lying close to our sightline with open cluster

NGC 1733 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

. Three farther galaxies visible from most southern deep space telescopes and observatories are west of N11: the pair PGC 16243 and PGC 16244; and

LEDA 89996 LEDA 89996, also known by its 2MASS designation 2MASS J04542829-6625280, is a spiral galaxy. It is located within the Dorado constellation and appears very close to the Large Magellanic Cloud. The galaxy was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope ...

. To the south of them lie

NGC 1731 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

and

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which are part of the galaxy's N4 complex. The bright globular cluster NGC 1783 figures to the north of N11.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:N11 (emission nebula) Large Magellanic Cloud Emission nebulae Dorado H II regions Star-forming regions Astronomical objects discovered in 1956