How to photograph the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)
A dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way, beside the globular cluster 47 Tucanae.
When to shoot it from your location
About the Small Magellanic Cloud
The SMC is visible to the naked eye from dark southern skies. A 135mm lens frames it with 47 Tucanae and NGC 362.
Gear and framing
The Small Magellanic Cloud spans about 5.3° of sky. It frames best with:
- Wide lens (14-50mm on a camera)
- Telephoto (85-300mm lens)
You can see how other people have built their rigs on RigDesigner, including my Sony a6700 and 60mm refractor rig.
Filters
This is a broadband target, which means its light is mostly starlight across the whole spectrum. Shoot it with no filter or a UV/IR cut filter. A broadband light pollution filter can help a little in the suburbs. Dual-band and narrowband filters block most of its light, so leave them off. Plan it for a moonless night at a dark site.
Tips
- Only visible from the Southern Hemisphere and the tropics.
Processing
Stack your light frames with darks and flats, then remove the background gradient before stretching. AstroBake does all of this for you. Point it at your folders of raw frames, then adjust the result with live sliders.