may-10

milky way, small and large magellanic clouds

Two of our closest galaxies, the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds, seen as the two fuzzy spots above the Milky Way galaxy

The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), two of our closest galaxies, are gravitationally bound to us and will someday merge with our Milky Way galaxy. These dwarf irregular galaxies are thought to have previously been barred spiral galaxies that were ripped apart by the tidal forces of our Milky Way galaxy. These galaxies are two of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye and can only be seen from Southern Hemisphere. The LMC is about 157,000 light years away, while the SMC is about 197,000 light years away. The Southern Cross and Alpha and Beta Centauri are seen as stars in the foreground of the Milky Way in the lower third of the photo.

   Large Magellanic Cloud to the left of the Milky Way          SPT and the Dark Sector Lab and the Milky Way

I have been taking photographs of the newly launched Cryosat II polar orbiting satellite for a satellite engineer in Germany. The mission of this satellite is to measure ice thickness at the Poles.    Cryosat II streak between the Small Magellanic and Large Magellanic Clouds

Daniel and I had to dock South Pole Telescope this month to troubleshoot and replace a power supply on one of our data readout crates. One must wear static grounding wristbands when working around some of the static sensitive components in the SPT cabin electronics rack.    bringing power supply up into the the telescope cabin [photo by dlv]     installing the new power supply     checking computer comms connections     last check before undocking the telescope