Small Magellanic Cloud - Exploring Night Sky #10

The Small Magellanic Cloud and 47 Tucanae - The Small Magellanic cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, it is thought to be about 200,000 light-years from the Sun, and about 75,000 light-years from the Large Magellanic cloud, that's pretty close by galactic Standards, The Small Magellanic cloud is clasified as an irregular dwarf galaxy, careful observations of the proper motions of it's stars show that it is stretched out along the line of sight, probably due to gravitational interactions with the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic cloud. The Small Magellanic cloud is an important object in astronomical history, it was by measuring the brightness of stars in this galaxy from photograp...View all