Malin_SMCuks.gif and Malin_SMC.jpg
================     =============

The Small Cloud of Magellan (SMC) 

Credit & Copyright: D. Malin (AAO), AATB, ROE, UKS Telescope 

Explanation: Almost unknown to casual observers in the northern
hemisphere, the southern sky contains two diffuse wonders known as the
Magellanic Clouds.  The Magellanic Clouds are small irregular galaxies
orbiting our own larger Milky Way spiral galaxy.  The Small Magellanic
Cloud (SMC), pictured here, is about 250,000 light years away and
contains a preponderance of young, hot, blue stars indicating it has
undergone a recent period of star formation.  There is evidence that the
SMC is not gravitationally bound to the LMC. 


The Small Magellanic Cloud, SMC
===============================

Irregular Galaxy SMC, the Small Magellanic Cloud (NGC 292) in Tucana

Right Ascension            0 : 52.7 (h:m)
Declination               72 : 50   (deg:m)
Distance                    210.0   (kly)
Visual Brightness             2.3   (mag)
Apparent Dimension      280 x 160   (arc min)

Like its larger apparent neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the Small
Magellanic Cloud was certainly known to the ancient southerners, but
became known to us only when Magellan went on his journey around the
world, in 1519.  The main body of the Small Magellanic Cloud has been
assigned NGC 292 in Dreyer's catalog, which is now sometimes used for
this galaxy.  In addition, many clusters and nebulae which are members
of this galaxy have been given their own NGC numbers. 

This galaxy looks like a peace of the Milky Way for the naked eye.  It
orbits our Milky Way galaxy at about 210,000 light years distance, which
makes it the third-nearest external galaxy known (after the LMC and the
1994 discovered Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy).  Our current
distance value takes into account the corrected Cepheid distance scale
based on the Hipparcos satellite data published in early 1997. 

The SMC is of irregular type.  It may be a distorted barred disk,
deformed by the tidal gravitational forces of Milky Way and LMC, but
this is not sure.  It contains several nebulae and star clusters which
can be seen in photographs and through telescopes. 

It was the Small Magellanic Cloud where Miss Henrietta Leavitt
discovered the period-luminosity relation of Cepheid variables, which is
since then the most reliable method available for determining large
cosmic distances. 

In John Caldwell's observing list.  In the Astronomical League's
Southern Sky Binocular Club list.