APOD: 2024 October 2 Б The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
Explanation:
It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way Galaxy.
If you live in the south, the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is
quite noticeable, spanning about 10 degrees across the night sky,
which is 20 times larger than the
full moon towards the southern constellation of the
dolphinfish
(Dorado).
Being only about 160,000
light years away,
many details of the LMC's structure can be seen, such as its
central bar and its single spiral arm.
The LMC harbors numerous stellar nurseries
where new stars are being born, which appear in pink in the
featured image.
It is home to the
Tarantula Nebula,
the currently most active star forming region in the entire
Local Group, a small collection of nearby galaxies dominated by the massive
Andromeda and
Milky Way
galaxies.
Studies of the LMC and the
Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
led to the discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of
Cepheid variable stars that are used to
measure distances across the nearby
universe.
Survey:
Color Blindness and Astronomical Images
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
