SMALL MAGELLANIC CLOUD - WIDE FIELD

 IRREGULAR GALAXY IN TUCANA (THE TOUCAN)

(Image centered at: ra 04h:47 m / dec - 72º 58')

December 2024, Observatorio Cielos Albertnos, Buenos Aires, Argentina

DATA

TYPE: Irregular Galaxy

APPARENT DIAMETER: FOV 4 x 3 degrees 

APPARENT MAGNITUDE (V): 2.7

DISTANCE: 203.7 Million light years

IMAGE INFORMATION

INSTRUMENT: Canon EF 200 mm f2 lens stopped at 4.5

CAMERA: QSI 583 WS

MOUNT: SKYWATCHER NEQ6 guided with ORION 80/400 refractor and Starlight Xpress LodeStar M7 camera

FILTERS: Optolong RGB set Optolong Ha 7 nm

SKY CONDITIONS: Bortle 2-3 skies

OBJECT DESCRIPTION AND IMAGE SESSION

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way.Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has A diameter of abou 18,900 light-years), and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 billion solar masses. At a distance of about 200,000 light-years, the SMC is among the nearest intergalactic neighbors of the Milky Way and is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye.

The SMC is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and can be fully glimpsed low above the southern horizon from latitudes south of about 15° north. The galaxy is located across the constellation of Tucana and part of Hydrus, appearing as a faint hazy patch resembling a detached piece of the Milky Way. The SMC has an average apparent diameter of about 4.2° (8 times the Moon's) and thus covers an area of about 14 square degrees (70 times the Moon's). Since its surface brightness is very low, this deep-sky object is best seen on clear moonless nights and away from city lights.

This wide field image shows also NGC 104 aka 47 Tucanae the second larger Globular Cluster visible from Earth shining at magnitude 4.91 and located at a distance of 16.700 light years.