NGC 249 in the Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a diameter of about 7,000 light-years, contains several hundred million stars,and has a total mass of approximately 7 billion solar masses. The SMC contains a central bar structure, and astronomers speculate that it was once a barred spiral galaxy that was disrupted by the Milky Way to become somewhat irregular. At a distance of about 200,000 light-years, the SMC is among the nearest intergalactic neighbors of the Milky Way and is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye.

This birds-eye view shows many objects in great detail.

Data from El Sauce, Chile 17” Planewave CDK from Martin Pugh’s online telescope.

RGB - 30 Min each, HA - 13.5 Hours, O3 - 10 Hours