The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), an irregular satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, and one of the prime attractions of the southern hemisphere sky. At left is the Tarantula Nebula, NGC 2070, while at upper right is the second brightest nebula in the LMC, NGC 1763, aka the LMC Lagoon. In between are an amazing number of nebulas, both magenta and cyan in tint, as well as clusters of stars. The LMC is 160,000 light years away, and is gravitationally bound to the Milky Way, though there is some dispute whether it is orbiting the Milky Way or is passing by. This field is 6° x 4°, which just encompasses the majority of the LMC's structure and features. I shot this Monday, March 24, 2014 from the Warrumbungles Mountain Motel grounds, near Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia. This is a stack of 6 x 10 minute exposures with the Borg 77mm aperture astrographic lens, a 300mm f/4 system, and the Canon 5D MkII camera, filter modified by Hutech, at ISO 800. Shots had to dodge clouds moving through during the evening. Humidity was high from rain earlier in the day. But transparency was good when skies were clear.
The Large Magellanic Cloud, LMC, embedded in high haze adding the glow effect, accentuating star colours. To the left of centre is NGC 2070, the Tarantula Nebula complex. This is a stack of 4 x 8 minute exposures at f/4 with the Borg 77mm astrograph (300mm focal length) and Canon 5D MkII at ISO 800. Taken from Coonabarabran, Australia, March 2014.
This wide-field image frames the main stars of Canes Venatici, the Hunting Dogs — Cor Caroli at bottom, and Chara at right of centre — and to also include in the frame the red star La Superba, aka Y Canum Venaticorum at top. Also in the field are the galaxies M94 below centre, M63 the Sunflower Galaxy at left, and NGC 4490 the Cocoon Galaxy at right above Chara. They are small on this image scale but the image serves for a finder chart illustration of the location of these galaxies relative to the stars of Canes Venatici, and the location of Y Can Ven. The red star La Superba was given its name by Fr. Angelo Secchi, and is one of the best examples of a red carbon star. It is one of the reddest stars in the sky. The field is 10° x 15°, so wider than binoculars. Cor Caroli is a double star but is not resolved at this scale. This is a stack of 8 x 1-minute exposures with the Canon EF 135mm lens stopped down to f/2.8 (thus the diffraction spikes on the stars) on the Canon Ra at ISO 1600, all on the Star Adventurer 2i tracker.
