Part of LMC 2

[AusGuy]

A break in the weather last night opened up the opportunity to revisit the LMC. Scattered early clouds meant that viewing in earnest could only begin later in the night. But that was OK because the LMC transited at about 11:30 pm giving it time to mostly climb out of the light dome over our neighbouring city. The temperature was in the high 20's C but the camera very quickly and easily cooled down to -10 C. The more I use this camera the better I like it. While waiting I had plenty of time to check polar alignment using PoleMaster and the Newt' s collimation using the Howie Glatter laser system. That this time was well spent can be seen in the night's images. No trailing of stars and no obvious coma right out into the corners of the camera's frame.

The unguided equatorial mount seemed to be performing exceptionally well so I chanced using 3 minute exposures and that went well too.

The attached three images are :

1. A screenshot of SharpCap live stacking in action using an actual size zoom level – showing that the “live” view is real and not manufactured in post processing.

2. A full resolution result of stacking 6 images. To be honest it is hardly any different from earlier stacks of 2 and 4 images and either of those could have been used here just as well. The only modification in Photoshop has been to increase contrast very slightly using levels.

3. The same image with labels for some of the objects seen.

The image bears enlargement to 100% resolution if you can manage it. The whole region is about one camera frame width away from the Tarantula nebula which lies above the top edge.

Starting with the bright green nebula over on the right hand side, it is often called the Dragon's Head Nebula but another name is the Southern Seagull Nebula which I much prefer because to me the bright red emission nebula at the centre top looks much more like a dragon's head facing leftwards. Also this nebula looks quite like a seagull facing right with its wings outstretched. As you can see from the labelled version, it is made up of three separate NGC objects 2029, 2032 and 2035 which span about 330 light years. A wide field view that includes the Seagull can be found at https://astrodonimaging.com/gallery/southern-seagull-nebula/ although the labelling of NGC 2035 seems to be wrong.

To the right of this grouping is the star cluster NGC 2040 embedded in a pinkish emission nebula. Above it is an emission nebula in the shape of a rose or a tulip. This Hubble image shows the cluster https://www.spacetelescope.org/images/potw1216a/ but not so much the nebula. This crop from a HaOIII image that I took some years ago shows the nebula more clearly.

Taking centre stage at the top are the starkly contrasting nebulae NGCs 2014 and 2020. NGC 2014 is a bright young cluster illuminating the red emission nebula around it. As mentioned I see a dragon's head here snorting out faint flames above and to the left of it. Its neck extends downwards. From top to bottom in this image the dragon spans about 670 light years.

Poised over the dragon's head is the blue halo of NGC 2020. So perhaps NGC 2014 is a saintly dragon? NGC 2020 is a curious object being caused by a young and massive Wolf-Rayet star that has ejected some of its material to create the surrounding blue nebula. Apparently it shines blue because it results from the ionisation of oxygen. I read that the hot core of the star shines roughly 200,000 times as bright as the Sun.

The HST team / NASA call NGC 2014 the Cosmic Reef Nebula and have supplied a great image of it and NGC 2020 at

https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/ngc2014-ngc2020-tagged.pdf

There is also a related video at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qO6SG1HzyI

To the left of the image is the large complex of star clusters and emission nebulae spanning at the very least 1,075 light years and made up of NGCs 1955, 1968 and 1974. Any of them would dwarf our Great Orion Nebula into insignificance.

NGC 2011 is a beautiful star cluster although its grandeur is only hinted at in this image. The WikiMedia Commons image at https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:NGC_2011#/media/File:NGC_2011_hst_08134_08_R814_G_B555_asinh.png shows it well.

There are many globular clusters in the LMC. I have been unable to find a catalogue designation and so glean any information about the most obvious one in this image near the bottom-right corner. A task for a cloudy night perhaps?

Vixen R200SS; SW AZ-EQ6 (in equatorial mode); ZWO ASI294MC Pro; Baader MPCC;

SharpCap livestack - 6 x 3 minutes at 300 gain – cooled to -10C

Bortle 4.5

 

 

Edited December 18, 2020 by AusGuy

[Mike JW]

I am enjoying your LMC posts. I wish I could make sharpcap work for me but it defeats me every time I try. Mike