Seven Samurai - NGC 249 261 267 etc Small Magellanic Cloud
Someone called this the Magnificent Seven, which of course is a Marlboro Country remake of the Seven Samurai by Kurosawa.
Taken on the night of the full moon, and the night before. Beggars can't be choosers. So far 7 hrs H-alpha mapped to yellow, and 8 hrs OIII mapped to blue. Palette then rotated 15 degrees toward the red for aesthetics.
Another name might be the Chocolate Box - lots of goodies wrapped in brightly coloured foil, all different. The degree of separation of H-alpha rich and OIII rich chocolates is most impressive.
The brightest bluest patch toward top right is NGC 249, and the smaller bluish patch to its left is NGC 261. The bright central aqua-blue stripy patch is NGC 267.
We had a go at this with the old SBIG camera a few years ago but achieved half the exposure and only 2/3 of the field height, so there are some new features in here at the bottom.
There are several star clusters with many tiny stars. There is what looks plausibly like an OIII rich supernova remnant about 40% of the way toward 9 o'clock. There are multiple concentric shells richer in H-alpha about 50% of the way toward 1 o'clock, giving an appearance reminiscent of brain coral. There are other more dispersed H-alpha bubbles toward 3 o'clock and 4:30, and a faint but pretty arc fragment say 80% of the way toward 4 o'clock.
Toward 5 o'clock is an isolated ball which in monochrome looks very like a tomato, but it shows a patchy mixture of H-alpha and OIII.
The general appearance suggestive of multiple past supernovas, and the very strong separation into separate H-alpha regions and OIII regions is most reminiscent of the Chalice Nebula in the Greater Magellanic Cloud, and presumably the physics is similar.
Because of the guessed-at supernova remnant history, we plan to do a couple nights worth of SII, once the moon and the rain go away, but this is our first imaging run for quite a while so we wanted to show progress so far on this intriguingly rich and busy part of the SMC.
Very nice MnT, by sheer coincidence I was looking at your past version only Saturday morning when I was comparing data I'd taken of the region over night. I was using yours as a benchmark to see if I had some underlying gradient issues which I do
Loving the detail in your shock fronts! As least they do look like shock fronts, SII of the region would be interesting. I only get bicolour as well.
Looking good guys and yes, plenty of chocolates to sample there representing just some of the intricate but often overlooked, structures across the SMC. Nice use of moonlit skies ...I decided to give it a miss, even though it was perfectly clear on Friday night here and not bad last night either ...oh well, always better with less Moon...that's my excuse anyway...
Very nice MnT, by sheer coincidence I was looking at your past version only Saturday morning when I was comparing data I'd taken of the region over night. I was using yours as a benchmark to see if I had some underlying gradient issues which I do
Loving the detail in your shock fronts! As least they do look like shock fronts, SII of the region would be interesting. I only get bicolour as well.
Thanks, Colin. Looking forward to seeing your take on the area too.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SimmoW
Fantastic M&T, such good resolution on your system.
Thanks, Simmo! Seeing was about 2.2 sec arc.
Quote:
Originally Posted by strongmanmike
Looking good guys and yes, plenty of chocolates to sample there representing just some of the intricate but often overlooked, structures across the SMC. Nice use of moonlit skies ...I decided to give it a miss, even though it was perfectly clear on Friday night here and not bad last night either ...oh well, always better with less Moon...that's my excuse anyway...
Mike
Ta, Mike. We were probably saved by the moon being well north of where we were peeping.
Looking good M&T. OIII is generally not a good idea at full moon but you seem to have got away with it very well. A lot of interesting structures there.
I love these SMC neb images. Some of the best nebs are in that region. Nicely done.
Greg.
Cheers, Greg. The immediately adjacent NGC 330 region is also intensely colourful.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Stevec35
Looking good M&T. OIII is generally not a good idea at full moon but you seem to have got away with it very well. A lot of interesting structures there.
Cheers
Steve
Thanks, Steve. Aye, we got away with that. Little choice what with the weather this Winter, and Spring's not looking much better so far.
Very nice close up Mike. Lots of goodies in the magellanic clouds for your light bucket and FL.
Thanks, Marc, glad you like it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by silv
Oh, there's a purple Kangaroo at 10 o' clock!
On its way to the tomato at 5 o' clock.
Wonderful image. Love it.
Hi, Annette! We're normally pretty good at spotting purple kangaroos but this one is eluding us. Can we entice you to download the thumbnail, draw in the roo using PhotoShop or whatever, and attach it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by topheart
Thanks for sharing such a violent scene with us!
Wow, must be one of the most interesting fields of view in the sky>
Great work!
Cheers,
Tim
Thanks, Tim. The Magellanic Clouds seem more vigorous and forthright than the general neighbourhood around us here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Andy01
Rotate it 90 deg clockwise & it's a lovely bunch of grapes
Originally Posted by silv View Post
Oh, there's a purple Kangaroo at 10 o' clock!
On its way to the tomato at 5 o' clock.
Wonderful image. Love it.
Hi, Annette! We're normally pretty good at spotting purple kangaroos but this one is eluding us. Can we entice you to download the thumbnail, draw in the roo using PhotoShop or whatever, and attach it?
Absolutely!
To prove my expertise in spotting animals I'll also attach a pink rabbit playing golf as seen by my 150mm camera lens in the Prawn Nebula in 2012.
Trust me. That kangaroo is there. And possibly it' has eaten the tomato by now!
I agree with Greg - there is something magical about the nebulae in the SMC (as well as the ones in LMC). Perhaps is has something to do with the distance from us?
representing just some of the intricate but often overlooked, structures across the SMC. Nice use of moonlit skies 
...I decided to give it a miss, even though it was perfectly clear on Friday night here and not bad last night either 
...oh well, always better with less Moon...that's my excuse anyway...
