Large Magellanic Cloud

In the southern night sky it appears as a hazy patch of cloud set apart from the Milky Way, which is why it is called a "Magellanic Cloud." It has no clear spiral shape — its stars and nebulae are scattered irregularly — though a faint bar structure remains. Within it, the giant star-forming region called the "Tarantula Nebula" stands out as a small red patch.

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the largest of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies and, at about 160,000 light-years away, one of the nearest. It is an irregular galaxy scattered without clear spiral structure, but it is a place of very active star birth: the "Tarantula Nebula" within it is the largest and brightest star-forming region in the Local Group. In 1987 the supernova "SN 1987A" exploded in this galaxy, recorded as the closest supernova observed in the age of modern telescopes. It takes its name from Magellan's 16th-century expedition, which noted it from the southern seas.