Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2023 September 7 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Large Cloud of Magellan Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Chris Willocks Explanation: The 16th century Portuguese navigator [5]Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the [6]first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere skygazers are known as the [7]Clouds of Magellan, now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. About 160,000 light-years distant in the constellation Dorado, the [8]Large Magellanic Cloud is seen in this [9]sharp galaxy portrait. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's [10]satellite galaxies and is the home of the [11]closest supernova in modern times, [12]SN 1987A. The prominent patch above center is 30 Doradus, also known as the magnificent [13]Tarantula Nebula, a giant star-forming region about 1,000 light-years across. Tomorrow's picture: large star factory __________________________________________________________________ [14]< | [15]Archive | [16]Submissions | [17]Index | [18]Search | [19]Calendar | [20]RSS | [21]Education | [22]About APOD | [23]Discuss | [24]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [25]Robert Nemiroff ([26]MTU) & [27]Jerry Bonnell ([28]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [29]Specific rights apply. [30]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [31]ASD at [32]NASA / [33]GSFC, [34]NASA Science Activation & [35]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2309/TheLargeMagellanicCloud.jpg 3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 4. https://www.instagram.com/chris.willocks/ 5. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan 6. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060809.html 8. http://messier.seds.org/xtra/ngc/lmc.html 9. https://www.cwastrophotography.com/the-large-magellanic-cloud-lmc 10. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/sattelit.html 11. http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/ 12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap170305.html 13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090916.html 14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230906.html 15. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 18. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 23. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=230907 24. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap230908.html 25. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 26. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 27. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 28. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 29. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 30. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 31. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 32. https://www.nasa.gov/ 33. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 34. https://science.nasa.gov/learners 35. http://www.mtu.edu/