The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way at a distance of around 200,000 light-years. Together with the LMC it can be clearly seen with the naked eye.
The SMC is visually accompanied by 2 globular clusters. The biggest one is called Tuc47 and it is located 16,700 light years from us. It is in fact the second brightest globular cluster in the sky (after Omega Centauri). Unfortunately I only took a few (long) exposures and wasn’t able to preserve the core of the globular cluster.
Next to SMC you can see the globular cluster NGC362. It is an interesting globular cluster in the sense that it has an overabundance of binary stars and a very compact core; only 13 light-years in diameter.
Acquisition details of The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and Tuc47
Date: July 12, 2015
Location: Kiripotib, Namibia
Optics: Nikkor 80-200mm F2.8 used at 80mm F4
Mount: Fornax 51
Camera: Unmodified Nikon D5100
Guiding: Lacerta MGEN
Exposures: 17x5min ISO800
