Small Magellanic Cloud
Encyclopedia : S : SM : SMA : Small Magellanic Cloud
| Galaxy | List of galaxies | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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! style="text-align:left;" | Apparent magnitude (V)
| 2.7
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! style="text-align:left;" | Apparent dimensions (V)
| 5 x 3 °
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! style="text-align:left;" | Constellation
| Tucana
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! colspan="2" style="background-color: #30D5C8; text-align: center;" | Physical characteristics
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! style="text-align:left;" | Radius
| 7,000 ly
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! style="text-align:left;" | Absolute magnitude (V)
| -16.2
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! style="text-align:left;" | Notable features
| }
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! colspan="2" style="text-align:left;" | Other designations
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| colspan="2" |
|} The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. It contains around a billion stars. Some speculate that the SMC was once a barred spiral galaxy that was disrupted by the Milky Way to become somewhat irregular. It still contains a central bar structure. At a distance of about 200,000 light-years, it is one of the Milky Way's nearest neighbors. It is also one of the most distant objects that can be seen with the naked eye. With a mean declination of approximately -72 degrees, it is best viewed from the Southern Hemisphere. It is located in the constellation of Tucana and appears as a hazy, light patch in the night sky about 3 degrees across. It looks like a detached piece of the Milky Way. It forms a pair with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is positioned a further 20 degrees to the east. The Small Magellanic Cloud is a member of the Local Group. Since it has a very low surface brightness, it is best viewed from a dark site away from city lights. The Magellanic clouds are best visible in the southern hemisphere, although they are visible 5 degrees from the horizon in Hawaii. Appearances in fiction
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