The core of the Small Magellanic Cloud (HOO)

Click on the image for high quality version (40 MB)

At a distance of approximately 210,000 light-years, across the southern constellations Tucana and Hydrus, lies this Dwarf Irregular Galaxy, which is part of the Local Galaxy Group.
Along with the Magellan Major Cloud, they are visible from dark skies of the Southern Hemisphere as two diffuse clouds, separated from the luminosity of the Milky Way. It is thought that these two galaxies interact with each other (they share an envelope of neutral hydrogen and there is a gas bridge between the two, where stars are forming) and are satellites of our Galaxy (although some studies seem to indicate that their speed is a little high so that they are orbiting the Milky Way).

This photography is a mosaic composed of two tiles and was made in the city of Buenos Aires, Argentina, in twelve sessions during the nights of October and November 2020, totalizing 60 hours of exposition time (15 hours per filter and tile).

Used equipment: Sky Watcher Esprit 100 ED APO, ZWO ASI 1600 (temperature -20°C / -10°C depending on night), Baader Hα 3.5 nm filter, Astronomik OIII 6 nm filter, NEQ6 mount. Homemade electronic focuser and anti-dew devices.

Some deep space objects appearing in the image: NGC222, NGC231, NGC242, NGC248, NGC249, NGC256, NGC261, NGC265, NGC267, NGC269, NGC290, NGC292, NGC294, NGC299, NGC306, NGC330, NGC346, NGC361, NGC371, NGC416.

Some interesting "zoomed in" zones: