Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)
The Small Magellanic Cloud or SMC (also known as NGC 292) is an irregular galaxy in the constellation Tucana. It has an apparent visual magnitude of 2.7 and its angular diameter is 320x185 arc-minutes. The SMC lies at an estimated distance of 197,000 light years. The Equinox 2000 coordinates are 00h 52.7m, -72° 50´ which makes the SMC a Southern Hemisphere object that is best seen during the autumn.
The globular cluster just to the right (west) of the SMC is 47 Tucanae (NGC 104), the second brightest globular cluster visible to the naked eye. Above (north) the SMC is fainter globular cluster known as NGC 362.
The Small Magellanic Cloud and Large Magellanic Cloud are both dwarf galaxies that are gravitationally bound to the Milky Way Galaxy. To the naked eye, they appear like detached pieces of the Milky Way.
Technical Details
- Object: Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)
- Other Names: NGC 292, Nubecula Minor
- Object Type: irregular galaxy
- Object Data: Apparent Magnitude = 2.7, Angular Size = 320x185 arc-minutes
- Object Position (Equinox 2000): 00h 52.7m, -72° 50´, Constellation = Tucana
- Date/Time: 2011 Jun 02 at 09:00 UTC
- Location: Hotel Inca Utama, Huatajata, Lake Titicaca, BOLIVIA
- Mount: Celestron CG-5 GT
- Lens: Nikkor AF 300 f/2.8
- Camera: Canon EOS 550D (Rebel T2i)
- Field of View: 4.3° x 2.8° at 3.0 arc-sec/pixel (web version: 16.6 arc-sec/pixel)
- Exposure: 2 x (4 x 240s), f/2.8, IE800 (this image is a 2-panel mosaic)
- File Name: SMC-02w.jpg
- Processing (Adobe Camera Raw): Vignetting Correction, Noise Reduction, White Balance, Curves
- Processing (Photoshop CS5): Average Images, Curves
- Original Image Size: 3454 × 5179 pixels (17.9 MP); 11.5" x 17.3" @ 300 dpi
- Rights: Copyright 2012 by Fred Espenak. All Rights Reserved. See: Image Licensing.