Large Magellanic Cloud - Eta Carinae region

[Dusty]

In the southern hemisphere we have two naked eye galaxies that stand out like a sore thumb.
These are the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, named after the famous maritime explorer Ferdinand Magellan.

He was the first to circumnavigate the globe and when he ventured into the southern hemisphere he observed what looked like clouds in the heavens.
These were of course huge galaxies that were visible to the naked eye and they are a wonder to behold.

Here I'd like to share with you a wide field shot of the Large Magellanic Cloud (right) and the wonderful Eta Carinae Region (left).

This was a 22 min (11 x 2min) exposure at ISO 800 using the 20Da and my 16-35mm f/2.8 set at 32mm on an EM200 mount.

I hope you enjoy.
Dusty

[jgrussell]

That's an amazing sight -- great shot. Something I'd sure like to see for myself some day.

[drevilsmom]

Wow! That is nice! I would love to see those and also Alpha Centauri, just because it is the closest star to us.

[Dusty]

Thanks for your kind comments jgr and Elizabeth.

Wow! That is nice! I would love to see those and also Alpha Centauri, just because it is the closest star to us.

Alpha Centuri is my favourite star to observe, it's actually a double star and when you look at it under high mag, it looks like a pair of headlights on a car.
Anyway I've attached a shot of Alpha and Beta Centuri for you.
The star on the left is Alpha Ceturi, the closest star to us (apart from our sun) at 4.5 light years away.

[Celestron]

Very nice Dusty !

[drevilsmom]

Nice one on this one as well. I thought there was also a dwarf star associated with the double stars, too? All I know that as a sci-fi fan, Alpha Centauri has been oft mentioned. And although technology is a little far from it today, I know that space agencies have talked about sending ships to that star.

[Jeff]

Wow, wow & wow. I wanna come to your side of the planet someday!

[Dusty]

Very nice Dusty !
Cheers Ron.

Nice one on this one as well. I thought there was also a dwarf star associated with the double stars, too? All I know that as a sci-fi fan, Alpha Centauri has been oft mentioned. And although technology is a little far from it today, I know that space agencies have talked about sending ships to that star.
You're absolutely right Elizabeth, it's actually a triple system.
Here's some info from wiki:
Alpha Centauri A (α Cen A) and Alpha Centauri B (α Cen B) are the individual stars of the binary system, usually defined to identify them as the different component of the binary α Cen AB. An additional much more distant and fainter companion star is called Proxima Centauri, Proxima or α Cen C. Viewed from Earth, Proxima Centauri is 2.18° away from α Cen AB: if it were bright enough to be seen without a telescope, Proxima Centauri would appear to the naked eye as a star separate from α Cen AB. Proxima is a visual double, which is assumed to be gravitationally associated with α Cen AB system. Direct evidence that it has an elliptic orbit typical of binary stars is yet to be found. [8]

Together all three components make a triple star system, referred by double star observers as the triple star (or multiple star), α Cen AB-C.



Wow, wow & wow. I wanna come to your side of the planet someday!
Glad you liked it Jeff.
You'll be most welcome to visit and see our night skies.
I too would very much like to see the northen hemi night sky.

[Nighthound]

Several shades of green here Dustmeister.:D You know how much I'd enjoy a week or two of shooting down under. Between your night skies and amazing bird population I wouldn't sleep a wink.

Outstanding image, as always.

[markjpcs]

Beautiful shot!

[Adrena1in]

Now I've never seen shots of the Megellanic clouds before, and that's amazing. Are you able to perhaps take a shot of what it actually looks like to the naked eye? Is it more visible than M31? I'm gathering it is.

[Dusty]

Several shades of green here Dustmeister.:D You know how much I'd enjoy a week or two of shooting down under. Between your night skies and amazing bird population I wouldn't sleep a wink.

Outstanding image, as always.
Thank you Steve, you would really enjoy a visit downunder.
I just came back from a 3 day star party, the "Ice In Space Astro Camp" (http://www.iceinspace.com.au/iisac.html), unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate this year but the socializing was great.

Beautiful shot!
Much appreciated Mark.

Now I've never seen shots of the Megellanic clouds before, and that's amazing. Are you able to perhaps take a shot of what it actually looks like to the naked eye? Is it more visible than M31? I'm gathering it is.
I'll see what I can do for a naked eye shot, the weather is terrible atm.
It is more visible than Andromeda, and a lot of the times people confuse the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds as actual wispy clouds seen at night !
Also they are very close to each other which adds to the effect.

[R Hardman]

Man we do need a pole reversal for us northern folk! Great image Dusty.

[Dusty]

Are you able to perhaps take a shot of what it actually looks like to the naked eye? Is it more visible than M31? I'm gathering it is.
OK this is probably as close as I can get to show how it would look naked eye.
You can see the tree line for some sense of scale to the eye.

[Sky of the Plains]

That is really cool. This makes me want to visit the southern hemisphere! thanks for sharing

[Celestron]

Thanks for sharing that second image Dusty ! I've also wondered how it looked !

[Adrena1in]

Man we do need a pole reversal for us northern folk! Great image Dusty.

I gather the poles are going to reverse at some point, but the constellation positions won't change much for a while!!

Thanks for the "True" image Dusty, that's so cool! I really never knew the LMC was that visible! :cool:

[AMD72]

Nice work RB ;)

[Dusty]

That is really cool. This makes me want to visit the southern hemisphere! thanks for sharing
You'll really enjoy your visit if you do, thank you for your comment.
Thanks for sharing that second image Dusty ! I've also wondered how it looked !
My pleasure !
I gather the poles are going to reverse at some point, but the constellation positions won't change much for a while!!

Thanks for the "True" image Dusty, that's so cool! I really never knew the LMC was that visible! :cool:
It is a wonderful sight to behold, glad you enjoyed.
Nice work RB ;)
Ah by the sound of your voice I'd say that's you astro_south !
G'day mate fancy meeting you here...... :lol:
Cheers Andrew

And thanks everyone for your lovely responses.

:D