40 minutes exposure, Kodak Ektachrome 200 wide format slide film.
100mm f/2 Pentax lens.
One of the treats awaiting northen hemisphere observers who make the pilgimage "Down Under" are the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. These spectacual objects are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way are among the nearest galaxies to the Milky Way.
The two clouds are bright enough to be visible to the naked eye even in moderately light polluted skies, appearing as small clouds or detached portions of the Milky Way. Binoculars give excellent views of each galaxy, and with almost any telescope, the clouds reveal a wealth of detail.
The Small Magellanic Cloud is about 210,000 light years away. It is an irregular galaxy, with little structure.
The Small Magellanic Cloud contains only a few open clusters and one emission nebula that are bright enough for viewing in a small telescope. In the photograph below, the emission nebula, NGC 346, appears as a bright spot surrounded by a pinkish glow, towards the top of the galaxy. Above it the open cluster NGC 371 is visible as a scattered group of stars.
Close by the SMC are two bright globular clusters. One is situated just to the north of the galaxy. This is NGC 362. The other globular cluster is one of the showpieces of the sky, NGC 104, situated just to the west of the galaxy. These globulars tend to overwhelm the globulars belonging to the SMC, however some of them are bright enough to be visible in a 6" telescope and to receive NGC numbers. One of these is NGC 121. Some further information about these SMC globulars along with a photograph containing several of them, is on the page about NGC 104.
