SMC observed under Singapore sky

Clifford60 · Post by **Clifford60** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 8:28 pm

Saturday midnight sky was quite nice in term of cloud, it was very low, close to horizon level. I saw this little blur patch for a few hours until it go to about 10 deg above horizon.

So, was it SMC or 47 Tucanae that I saw, since they are so close to one another under 25x, which is easier to be located? I think I remember the blur patch is not round in shape like Omega C. Will try to find it again.

Dragon Man · Post by **Dragon Man** » Mon Oct 20, 2008 9:21 pm

Clifford, 47Tuc would be the easier of the 2 to see, especially in light polluted sky. It is much brighter than SMC.

Naked eye, 47Tuc is about the same size as a large blurry star, whereas SMC is about the same size as a blurry Moon but very very faint.

Clifford60 · Post by **Clifford60** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:59 am

Hi Ken, the blurry patch is very faint, I can't see it using 8x42 bino even the laser pointer mounted on the big bino is pointing the exact location for me. If it is 47Tuc (mag 4), the small bino should not be a problem locating it. I actually see mag 4 stars with naked eye in S'pore sky. Relative to the star, the blurry patch is very big.

I'd seen mag 9 stars with the big bino and on that night, mag 7+ stars with ease.

I think I might had seen LMC that night as I saw another blurry patch around Tarantula Nebula location. Not too sure.

Dragon Man · Post by **Dragon Man** » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:52 am

Clifford60 wrote:Hi Ken, the blurry patch is very faint, I can't see it using 8x42 bino even the laser pointer mounted on the big bino is pointing the exact location for me. If it is 47Tuc (mag 4), the small bino should not be a problem locating it. I actually see mag 4 stars with naked eye in S'pore sky. Relative to the star, the blurry patch is very big.

I'd seen mag 9 stars with the big bino and on that night, mag 7+ stars with ease.

I think I might had seen LMC that night as I saw another blurry patch around Tarantula Nebula location. Not too sure.

Yes Clifford, by your description you did see SMC and LMC.
If you were looking at Tarantula at low power and saw a blurry patch, that is the LMC. If you were using high power then you would've been looking at Tarantula itself.

Mag 4 stars naked eye in Singapore is pretty good actually. There are people in cities here that can't even see mag 2 stars!!!!

Keep at it because one night they will be obvious.