Magellanic Cloud


Bits of the Magellanic Clouds

This is NGC1763, an emission nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and constellation Dorado.  I’ve been pondering why it might be that many areas of the LMC and SMC look like paint daubs – an appearance that is not common in other nebulae I have photographed.  Part of the reason might be the size and distance of the objects.  Other than these targets in LMC and SMC, almost every nebula I have photographed is between 1,000 and 10,000 light-years from Earth.  The Magellanic Clouds are more like 150,000 light-years away, but I’m using the same magnification (angular image size), […]