A long-duration image catches the view of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds from a window on the SpaceX Dragon team spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA/Don Pettit)
What it is: The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, 2 dwarf satellite galaxies of the Milky Way
Where it is: 160,000 light-years away, in the constellations Dorado and Mensa (for the Large Magellanic Cloud) and 200,000 light-years away, in the constellations Tucana and Hydrus (for the Small Magellanic Cloud)
When it was shared: Dec. 2, 2024
Why it's so unique: Our Milky Way galaxy does not take a trip through area alone. A spiral nebula with a disk that covers more than 100,000 light-years, it sits within a community called the Local Group, that includes more than 50 other galaxies. A few of the area's less-massive galaxies orbit the Milky Way as satellites.
2 satellite galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, can be seen in the night sky just from the Southern Hemisphere– or from area. This image was taken by Don Pettit, NASA's earliest active astronaut, at 69 years of ages. He got to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sept. 11, after releasing from Kazakhstan in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft, together with 2 Russian cosmonauts.
He took this long-exposure image from a SpaceX Crew Dragon pill docked to the ISS. It was among 3 associated images released on X by NASA; 2 included the Magellanic Clouds, and the other revealed the Milky Way.
Called irregular satellite galaxies due to the fact that of their distorted shapes, the Magellanic Clouds each include billions of stars. Numerous amazing huge observations have actually been made there. Maybe the most popular remained in the Large Magellanic Cloud, where in 1987, astronomers identified the last supernova to be seen with the naked eye.
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Last month, astronomers exposed the very first top quality, zoomed-in image of a star outside our galaxy. Found in the Large Magellanic Cloud, the star, WOH G64, is 1,500 times larger than the sun and on the edge of taking off in a violent supernova.
The Magellanic Clouds are most quickly seen in between December and April from the Southern Hemisphere.
On his 4th spaceflight, Pettit has actually been taking long-exposure images and publishing them on X, consisting of a star path, SpaceX Starlink satellites and Las Vegas during the night, among the brightest put on Earth.
For more superb area images, take a look at our Area Photo of the Week archives
Jamie Carter is a self-employed reporter and routine Live Science factor based in Cardiff, U.K. He is the author of A Stargazing Program For Beginners and lectures on astronomy and the natural world. Jamie routinely composes for Space.com, TechRadar.com, Forbes Science, BBC Wildlife publication and Scientific American, and numerous others. He modifies WhenIsTheNextEclipse.com.
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