NGC 292, or the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the smaller of the two ‘Nubeculas’ first sighted by Ferdinand Magellan during his circumnavigation around the globe at the beginning of the sixteenth century. At a distance of "merely" 210,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana, the SMC is tidally distorted by both the LMC and our own Milky Way. It actually spans 15,000 light-years or so and contains several hundred million stars. Despite being often overlooked due to the smaller size and brightness compared to the Large Magellanic cloud, the SMC is very rich of objects to see. The large blue patch in the top centre of the image is clusters and nebulae NGC 346, a a star forming region about 200 light-years across, as big as the Eta Carinae Nebula. Exploring NGC 346, astronomers have identified a population of embryonic stars strung along the dark, intersecting dust lanes visible here on the right. Still collapsing within their natal clouds, the stellar infants' light is reddened by the intervening dust. Under this giant nebula, close the center of the image lay Henize N36 and N37, a pair of emission nebulae fairly bright. Lower right in the picture above there is a group of objects known as "the Magnificent Seven", in fact NGC 249–261–267, Dem 132 and N 25–28–30. Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - Ha (390m) OIII(390m) L (230m) R (120m) G (150m) B (160m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
Octans is an inconspicuous constellation introduced by Nicolas Louis de Lacaille. Its name is Latin for the eighth part of a circle, but it is named after the octant, a navigational instrument. Octans is notable as the location of the south celestial pole but, unlike the north pole, it has no bright pole star. This constellation is circumpolar to the south celestial pole, so it can be seen in Southern Hemisphere skies during the evening in any month of the year. Octans does not contain many deep sky objects but contain a vast complex of dust and molecular clouds, of which a small part is imaged here. The blue reflection nebula close to the center of the image is cataloged as GN 19.41.5 and is merely 4' across. Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - L (270m) R (120m) G (120m) B (120m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
NGC 3242, commonly known as the Ghost of Jupiter, is a planetary nebula located in the constellation Hydra. William Herschel discovered the nebula that later was catalogued by Dreyer as NGC 3242. After a star like our Sun completes fusion in its core, it throws off its outer layers it a striking display called a planetary nebula. NGC 3242 is such a planetary nebula, with the stellar remnant white dwarf star visible at the center. While the planetary nebula's core measure only about 16" x 26" in diameter, NGC 3242 is surrounded by a first fainter shell and by another very faint giant halo measuring almost half degree in diameter, same as the full Moon, with a prominent arc containing both strong emissions of Ha and OIII. This huge halo was first discovered on the Palomar DSS plates and later confirmed to be related to the planetary nebula itself. Apo TEC140 (140/f7.2) - FLI Proline 16803 - Ha (510m) OIII (540m) R (90m) G (90m) B (110m) - Warrumbungle Observatory, Coonabarabran, NSW, Australia
