¿ Astronomy Picture of the Day [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2021 January 5 [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest resolution version available. The Small Cloud of Magellan Image Credit & Copyright: [3]José Mtanous Explanation: What is the Small Magellanic Cloud? It has turned out to be a galaxy. People who have wondered about this little fuzzy patch in the southern sky included Portuguese navigator [4]Ferdinand Magellan and his crew, who had plenty of time to study the unfamiliar night sky of the south during the first circumnavigation of [5]planet Earth in the early 1500s. As a result, two [6]celestial wonders easily visible for southern hemisphere [7]skygazers are now known in [8]Western culture as the Clouds of Magellan. Within the past [9]100 years, research has shown that these cosmic clouds are dwarf [10]irregular galaxies, [11]satellites of our larger spiral Milky Way Galaxy. The [12]Small Magellanic Cloud actually spans 15,000 light-years or so and contains several hundred million stars. About 210,000 light-years away in the constellation of the [13]Tucan ([14]Tucana), it is more distant than other known [15]Milky Way satellite galaxies, including the [16]Sagittarius Dwarf galaxy and the [17]Large Magellanic Cloud. [18]This sharp image also includes the foreground globular star cluster [19]47 Tucanae on the right. Tomorrow's picture: streaking dunes __________________________________________________________________ [20]< | [21]Archive | [22]Submissions | [23]Index | [24]Search | [25]Calendar | [26]RSS | [27]Education | [28]About APOD | [29]Discuss | [30]> __________________________________________________________________ Authors & editors: [31]Robert Nemiroff ([32]MTU) & [33]Jerry Bonnell ([34]UMCP) NASA Official: Phillip Newman [35]Specific rights apply. [36]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices A service of: [37]ASD at [38]NASA / [39]GSFC & [40]Michigan Tech. U. References 1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2101/SMC_Mtanous_4464.jpg 3. https://mtanous.wordpress.com/about/ 4. http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1519magellan.html 5. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/earth/overview/ 6. https://i.imgur.com/28TqRVc.jpg 7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap040808.html 8. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_culture 9. https://apod.nasa.gov/debate/debate100th.html 10. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregular_galaxy 11. http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/sattelit.html 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_Magellanic_Cloud 13. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toucan#/media/File:-_panoramio_-_Basa_Roland.jpg 14. http://www.hawastsoc.org/deepsky/tuc/ 15. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satellite_galaxies_of_the_Milky_Way 16. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_Dwarf_Spheroidal_Galaxy 17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap190905.html 18. https://mtanous.wordpress.com/#jp-carousel-1295 19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201024.html 20. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210104.html 21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html 22. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html 23. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html 24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search 25. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html 26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss 27. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html 28. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html 29. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=210105 30. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap210106.html 31. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html 32. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/ 33. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html 34. http://www.astro.umd.edu/ 35. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply 36. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html 37. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/ 38. https://www.nasa.gov/ 39. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/ 40. http://www.mtu.edu/