Posted on 02/11/2023 12:58:04 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: The two prominent clouds in this Chilean Atacama Desert skyscape captured on January 21 actually lie beyond our Milky Way galaxy. Known as the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds they are so named for the 16th century Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, leader of the first circumnavigation of planet Earth. Famous jewels of southern hemisphere skies, they are the brightest satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. The larger cloud is some 160,000 light-years, and the smaller 210,000 light-years distant. While both are irregular dwarf galaxies in their own right, they exhibit central barred structures in the deep wide-angle view. Wide and deep exposures also reveal faint dusty galactic cirrus nebulae and the imprints of gravitational tidal interactions between the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Very cool.
If I understand this correctly this was photographed without a telescope, just a nice camera.
https://www.astrobin.com/40v8a9/
Imaging Telescopes Or Lenses: Nikkor AF-S DX 35mm f/1.8G
Imaging Cameras: Nikon D7200
Mounts: iOptron SkyGuider Pro
Accessories: Aodelan TRS-1 Intervalometer
Software: Adobe Photoshop · Pleiades Astrophoto PixInsight · Topaz Labs DeNoise AI
I think you are right. These are objects in the southern hemisphere and not too distant for their size and brightness.
Is that a 1 hour 39 minute exposure?
I wanted to use the ghost of Magellan from animaniacs but couldn’t find an image that could be copied.
These are relatively recent discoveries. The Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is hidden behind the galactic core, which we couldn’t see until radio and infrared astronomy showed it. The halo is another thing which we’ve had some recent news about. The Milky Way may be as much as twice its earlier determined size but only because of a large wispy halo made up of cannibalized satellite galaxies. Our knowledge of astronomy today is so different than when I was a kid.
That must be new as well, as I haven’t heard of it. I’ve heard that the zodiacal lights may be mostly dust that originated from Mars.
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