The Small Magellanic Cloud

Field centered on R.A. 00h 38' & Dec. -71° 40'

 

A satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a wonder of the southern sky, a mere 210,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana. The Small Magellanic Cloud pictured above actually spans 15,000 light-years or so and contains several hundred million stars. About 210,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana, it is the fourth closest of the Milky Way's known satellite galaxies, after the Canis Major and Sagittarius Dwarf galaxies and the Large Magellanic Cloud. This view also includes two foreground globular star clusters NGC 362 (top center) and 47 Tucanae. Spectacular 47 Tucanae is a mere 13,000 light-years away and seen here to the left of the Small Magellanic Cloud (text adapted from APOD).

Click here for an enlargement (postcard style) at higher resolution.

 

Instrument:
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Pentax SXD75 + RC0.72x35 + Vixen Sphinx SXD SBIG STL11K, binning 1x1, T=-20°C L (60m) RGB (20m each) Optec LRGB filter set

Maleene station, Mt. Magnet, W.Australia

M.Lorenzi

 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 

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