The Small Magellanic Cloud, like the "Large MC", is a dwarf satellite galaxy
of the Milky Way. It is about 15,000 light years in diameter, and 200,000
light years from earth. The Small Magellanic Cloud appears in the far southern
sky, and looks like a faint fragment of the Milky Way.

In this image, you also see the globular cluster known as 47 Tucanae.
This object is part of our galaxy, only 13,000 light years from
earth. In this remarkable cluster, one million stars are contained in a ball that is
120 light years across. 47 Tucanae is the second brightest globular cluster in
the sky (second only to Omega Centauri), and is easily seen with the unaided eye.

This image was published in Sky & Telescope, August 2009, page 72.

Image Data:
Camera: Canon 350 XT (unmodified)
Lens: Canon 50mm, f/2.4 (cropped)
Mount: LXD-55
Exposure: ISO 800, 30 seconds x 90
Location: Ngorongoro Farmhouse, Tanzania