47 Tucanae (NGC 104)

clic for 30% size 1197 x 795 (337 kB)

clic for 50% size 1995 x 1325 (990 kB)


About this Image

The globular cluster 47 Tucanae close to the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is the second largest and second brightest globular cluster in the skies. The stars of 47 Tucanae are spread over a volume nearly 120 light years across. At their distance of 13,400 light years, They still cover an area of the sky of about the same apparent diameter as the full moon, about 30 minutes of arc. The above image resolves the countless stars of the Small Magellanic Cloud, of which a part can be seen in the lower part of the image.
North is right.

Below you see a crop of the cluster at 40/80% size.

clic for 80% size 816 x 816 (237 kB)


Technical Details
Optics

105mm TMB refractor with flattener at f/6.5

Mount AP-400 GEM
Camera SBIG STL-11000M at -25C, internal filter wheel
Filters LRGB
Date Aug 07, 2004.
Location Hakos/Namibia
Sky Conditions mag 6.5, high transparency, temperature 10 C,
Exposure LRGB= 15:15:15:15 min (5-minute sub-exposures)
all 1x1.
Processing Image aquisition in Maxim DL 4.0; Image calibration, aligning, mean stacking, DDP and color synthesis in ImagesPlus;
Photoshop: curves, color balance, cropped;