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Southern part of the spectacular N44 H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The green colour indicates areas that are particularly hot. The field measures 27.5 x 26.5 square arcminutes. North is up and East is left. #L
The LMC and Tarantula Nebula, shot in December 2015 near Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand on December 17th.
I shot both these with the same camera lens at 55mm focal length. This comparison shows the enormous visible size of the Large Magellanic Cloud. From my backyard in Nelson Bay NSW Australia the LMC is pretty big in the sky, and I thought this was probably the best way to show that.
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 2005 in the Large Magellanic Cloud.
Original caption: The globular cluster NGC 2005, featured in this Hubble Picture of the Week, is not unusual in and of itself; but it is a peculiarity in relation to its surroundings. NGC 2005 is located about 750 light-years from the heart of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxy and which itself lies about 162 000 light-years from Earth. Globular clusters are densely-packed clusters that can constitute tens of thousands or millions of stars. Their density means that they are tightly gravitationally bound and are therefore very stable. This stability contributes to their longevity: globular clusters can be billions of years old, and as such often comprise very old stars. Thus, studying globular clusters in space can be a little like studying fossils on Earth: where fossils give insights into the characteristics of ancient plants and animals, globular clusters illuminate the characteristics of ancient stars. Current theories of galaxy evolution predict that galaxies merge with one another. It is widely thought that the relatively large galaxies that we observe in the modern Universe were formed via the merging of smaller galaxies. If this is correct, then astronomers would expect to see evidence that the most ancient stars in nearby galaxies originated in different galactic environments. As globular clusters are known to contain ancient stars, and because of their stability, they are an excellent laboratory to test this hypothesis. NGC 2005 is such a globular cluster, and its very existence has provided evidence to support the theory of galaxy evolution via mergers. Indeed, the stars in NGC 2005 have a chemical composition that is distinct from the stars in the LMC around it. This suggests that the LMC underwent a merger with another galaxy somewhere in its history. That other galaxy has long-since merged and otherwise dispersed, but NGC 2005 remains behind as an ancient witness to the long-past merger. [Image Description: A globular cluster, appearing as a highly dense and numerous collection of shining stars. Some appear a bit larger and brighter than others, with the brightest having cross-shaped spikes around them. They are scattered mostly uniformly, but in the centre they crowd together more and more densely, and merge into a strong glow at the cluster’s core.]
Edited Hubble Space Telescope image of the globular cluster NGC 2005 in the Large Magellanic Cloud. Color/processing variant.
Original caption: The globular cluster NGC 2005, featured in this Hubble Picture of the Week, is not unusual in and of itself; but it is a peculiarity in relation to its surroundings. NGC 2005 is located about 750 light-years from the heart of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is the Milky Way’s largest satellite galaxy and which itself lies about 162 000 light-years from Earth. Globular clusters are densely-packed clusters that can constitute tens of thousands or millions of stars. Their density means that they are tightly gravitationally bound and are therefore very stable. This stability contributes to their longevity: globular clusters can be billions of years old, and as such often comprise very old stars. Thus, studying globular clusters in space can be a little like studying fossils on Earth: where fossils give insights into the characteristics of ancient plants and animals, globular clusters illuminate the characteristics of ancient stars. Current theories of galaxy evolution predict that galaxies merge with one another. It is widely thought that the relatively large galaxies that we observe in the modern Universe were formed via the merging of smaller galaxies. If this is correct, then astronomers would expect to see evidence that the most ancient stars in nearby galaxies originated in different galactic environments. As globular clusters are known to contain ancient stars, and because of their stability, they are an excellent laboratory to test this hypothesis. NGC 2005 is such a globular cluster, and its very existence has provided evidence to support the theory of galaxy evolution via mergers. Indeed, the stars in NGC 2005 have a chemical composition that is distinct from the stars in the LMC around it. This suggests that the LMC underwent a merger with another galaxy somewhere in its history. That other galaxy has long-since merged and otherwise dispersed, but NGC 2005 remains behind as an ancient witness to the long-past merger. [Image Description: A globular cluster, appearing as a highly dense and numerous collection of shining stars. Some appear a bit larger and brighter than others, with the brightest having cross-shaped spikes around them. They are scattered mostly uniformly, but in the centre they crowd together more and more densely, and merge into a strong glow at the cluster’s core.]
The LMC and SMC galaxies with a meteor, got really lucky with this one. This is 20 x 8 second frames stacked as a master and then stacked with the meteor frame.
I was doing a timelapse so that’s how I caught this.
Taken from my home in Nelson Bay NSW Australia
The artificial Laser Guide Star (LGSF) is pointing at the Large Magellanic Cloud, enabling Adaptive Optics observations of that region of the sky.
This wide and deep view of part of the LMC is the first result of the "Southern Super Cluster" imaging collaboration amongst members of the Astronomical Society of Victoria. A bunch of us collected over 260 hours of data at the start of 2025, using various telescopes and cameras. The group coordinator E. Pang then combined all the data and provided each group member with stacked FITS file to process to our hearts content.
This is my first proper attempt, combining the hydrogen and oxygen data into a HHO colour image. I chose that because I am red/green colour blind and with the usual palette I am completely unable to see the faint red hydrogen wisps that stand out clear as day in yellow now :-)
Group Members: E.Pang, R.Wiltshire, P.Lieverdink, A.Campbell, O.White, M.Tymms, B.Jurkowicz, A.Latta, S. de Lisle, J.Wilson, P.Milvain, J.Morley, K.Chandrashekar, R.Carroll, S.Markus, T.Graziani, S.Wilkins, A.Haskian, J.Bordignon, C.Hill, A.Paulin, S.Nikolaou, and G.Dite.
Data from a remote telescope in Chile, struggled processing this one and still not really happy with it think it could do with more data.
Research telescopes sport state-of-the-art cameras which, together with the big mirrors needed for a large collecting area, allow astronomers to catch the faint light of deep sky objects. But you can also produce beautiful images without big telescopes and using more modest cameras. Astrophotographers use more conventional cameras to capture images of astronomical objects, often on a larger scale than the observations made with big telescopes. Sometimes, they include the landscape in their composition, producing beautiful postcards of the Universe as seen from Earth. For example, this Picture of the Week shows the 3.58-metre New Technology Telescope (NTT), located at ESO’s La Silla Observatory, and set against the starry background of the southern sky. Standing out in the image, the Milky Way — our home galaxy — can be seen as a hazy stripe across the sky. Dark regions within the Milky Way are areas where the light from background stars is blocked by interstellar dust. In addition, the Large Magellanic Cloud appears to the right of the telescope as a foggy blob in the sky. This nearby irregular galaxy is a conspicuous object in the southern sky. It orbits the Milky Way and there is evidence to suggest that it has been greatly distorted by its interaction with our own galaxy. This image was taken by Håkon Dahle, who is also an accomplished professional astronomer. He submitted the photograph to the Your ESO Pictures Flickr group. The Flickr group is regularly reviewed and the best photos are selected to be featured in our popular Picture of the Week series, or in our gallery. Links This photograph on Håkon Dahle’s Flickr photostream Håkon Dahle’s Flickr photostream The “Your ESO Pictures” Flickr group The "Your ESO Pictures" announcement
This was a real failure. First time out shooting with a newly modified (H-alpha) Nikon Z7. I did not know the camera sufficiently, so my attempted custom settings of ISO 1600 or 2000 were replaced by the camera selecting auto ISOs of 160 and 250-280 - DOH!
Despite the major faux pas, I stacked these in StarrySkyStacker. Now, is that a very faint aurora at the horizon, as was forecast, or the distant glow of Cooma? The waxing half-moon was still up of course, so overall viewing remained compromised.
11 light frames and 5 dark, all at a mere ISO280!
(File: ISO280_Z7A1864-75-Dark-Median.tif)
NGC1760 A Large Emission Nebula in The Large Magellanic Cloud, Data from a remote telescope in Chile, processed in Pixinsight
The brightly glowing plumes seen in this image are reminiscent of an underwater scene, with turquoise-tinted currents and nebulous strands reaching out into the surroundings. However, this is no ocean. This image actually shows part of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a small nearby galaxy that orbits our galaxy, the Milky Way, and appears as a blurred blob in our skies. The NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope has peeked many times into this galaxy, releasing stunning images of the whirling clouds of gas and sparkling stars (opo9944a, heic1301, potw1408a). This image shows part of the Tarantula Nebula's outskirts. This famously beautiful nebula, located within the LMC, is a frequent target for Hubble (heic1206, heic1402). In most images of the LMC the colour is completely different to that seen here. This is because, in this new image, a different set of filters was used. The customary R filter, which selects the red light, was replaced by a filter letting through the near-infrared light. In traditional images, the hydrogen gas appears pink because it shines most brightly in the red. Here however, other less prominent emission lines dominate in the blue and green filters. This data is part of the Archival Pure Parallel Project (APPP), a project that gathered together and processed over 1000 images taken using Hubble’s Wide Field Planetary Camera 2, obtained in parallel with other Hubble instruments. Much of the data in the project could be used to study a wide range of astronomical topics, including gravitational lensing and cosmic shear, exploring distant star-forming galaxies, supplementing observations in other wavelength ranges with optical data, and examining star populations from stellar heavyweights all the way down to solar-mass stars. A version of this image was entered into the Hubble’s Hidden Treasures image processing competition by contestant Josh Barrington.