Astronomy: Small Magellanic Cloud

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Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D25 isophotal diameter of about 5.78 kiloparsecs (18,900 light-years), and contains several hundred million stars.

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Source: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA)

Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) is a dw arf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D25 isophotal diameter of about 5.78 kiloparsecs (18,900 light-years), and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of approximately 7 billion solar masses.

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Why Small Magellanic Cloud matters: Galaxies are the fundamental building blocks of the visible universe. Studying them reveals how matter organized itself after the Big Bang and continues to evolve billions of years later. At a distance of a bout 200,000 light-years, the SMC is among the nearest intergalactic neighbors of the Milky Way and is one of the most distant objects visible to the naked eye. The SMC is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and can be fully glimpsed low above the southern horizon from latitudes south of about 15° north. The galaxy is located across the constellation of Tucana and part of Hydrus, appearing as a faint, hazy patch resembling a detached piece of the Milky Way. The SMC has an average apparent diameter of about 4.2° (8 times the Moon's) and thus covers an area of about 14 square degrees (70 times the Moon's). Since its surface brightness is very low, this deep-sky object is best seen on clear moonless nights and away from city lights. The SMC forms a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which lies 20° to the east, and, like the LMC, is a member of the Local Group. It is currently a satellite of the Milky Way but is likely a former satellite of the LMC.

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Deep dive: Small Magellanic Cloud The SMC is visible from the entire Southern Hemisphere and can be fully glimpsed low above the southern horizon from latitudes south of about 15° north . The galaxy is located across the constellation of Tucana and part of Hydrus, appearing as a faint, hazy patch resembling a detached piece of the Milky Way. The SMC has an average apparent diameter of about 4.2° (8 times the Moon's) and thus covers an area of about 14 square degrees (70 times the Moon's). Since its surface brightness is very low, this deep-sky object is best seen on clear moonless nights and away from city lights. The SMC forms a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which lies 20° to the east, and, like the LMC, is a member of the Local Group. It is currently a satellite of the Milky Way but is likely a former satellite of the LMC. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Magellanic_Cloud (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)