Lorenzo Comolli's Astronomy HomePage

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The neighborhood of the Large Magellanic Clouds (LMC, 160000 l.y.) is encircle by hundreds of nebulae and clusters. This small field of 1°x1.5° shows the Dragon's Head nebula (NGC 2032), the large greenish nebula at top-right. Many more interesting object are present: NGC 2020 is a green oval at top-center; NGC 2014 is the red nebula immediately on the left; NGC 1968 and 1955 are the large red nebulae on the left; tens of globular clusters are present in the field, mainly immersed in the blue star clouds.

Technical Data
Optics	Takahashi FS152 apo refractor
Focal Lenght	1216 mm (direct focus, no flattener)
Focal Ratio	f/8
Exposure Time	2h20min (single exp of 10 min)
CCD	Canon EOS 5D with Baader filter
Sensitivity	800 ISO
Location	Tivoli Farm (Namibia) at 1350 m height
Date	27 August 2011
Mount	Fornax 51
Tracking	SXV-H5 on a Vixen 80/640 apo refractor
Temperature and humidity	T= +6°C, RH=48%
Sky brightness at zenith (with SQM-L)	21.8 mag/arcsec^2
Notes	South at top. This image is a collaborative effort of the Namibia 2011 expedition. Processing: Lorenzo Comolli. Images by: Lorenzo Comolli, Luigi Fontana, Giosuè Ghioldi, Emmanuele Sordini.