by APOD Robot » Tue May 28, 2013 4:11 am
The Large Cloud of Magellan
Explanation: The 16th century Portuguese navigator
Ferdinand Magellan and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the
first circumnavigation of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere
skygazers are known as the
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
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is seen here in a remarkably deep, colorful, and annotated
composite image. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's
satellite galaxies and is the home of the
closest supernova in modern times,
SN 1987A. The prominent patch just left of center is 30 Doradus, also known as the magnificent
Tarantula Nebula, is a giant
star-forming region about 1,000
light-years across.
[/b]
[url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap130528.html][img]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/S_130528.jpg[/img] [size=150]The Large Cloud of Magellan[/size][/url]
[b] Explanation: [/b] The 16th century Portuguese navigator [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan]Ferdinand Magellan[/url] and his crew had plenty of time to study the southern sky during the [url=http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html]first circumnavigation[/url] of planet Earth. As a result, two fuzzy cloud-like objects easily visible to southern hemisphere [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap050413.html]skygazers[/url] are known as the [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap060809.html]Clouds of Magellan[/url], now understood to be satellite galaxies of our much larger, spiral Milky Way galaxy. About 160,000 light-years distant in the constellation [url=http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/dor/]Dorado[/url], the [url=http://www.seds.org/messier/xtra/ngc/lmc.html]Large Magellanic Cloud[/url] (LMC) is seen here in a remarkably deep, colorful, and annotated [url=http://www.astrosurf.com/comolli/d144.htm]composite image[/url]. Spanning about 15,000 light-years or so, it is the most massive of the Milky Way's [url=http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/sattelit.html]satellite galaxies[/url] and is the home of the [url=http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/]closest supernova[/url] in modern times, [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120226.html]SN 1987A[/url]. The prominent patch just left of center is 30 Doradus, also known as the magnificent [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090916.html]Tarantula Nebula[/url], is a giant [url=http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap120729.html]star-forming region[/url] about 1,000 [url=http://asterisk.apod.com/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=21006]light-years[/url] across.
[b][table][tr][td=left][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=130527]<< Previous APOD[/url][/td] [td=center][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/view_retro.php?date=0528]This Day in APOD[/url][/td] [td=right][url=http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=130529]Next APOD >>[/url][/td][/tr][/table][/b]