By Free Republic | Created at 2024-10-02 20:53:39 | Updated at 2024-10-04 13:21:22
1 day ago
Astronomy Picture of the Day - The Large Magellanic Cloud Galaxy
NASA ^ | 2 Oct, 2024 | Image Credit & Copyright: Ireneusz Nowak; Text: Natalia Lewandowska (SUNY Oswego)
Posted on 10/02/2024 1:43:28 PM PDT by MtnClimber
Explanation: It is the largest satellite galaxy of our home Milky Way Galaxy. If you live in the south, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is quite noticeable, spanning about 10 degrees across the night sky, which is 20 times larger than the full moon towards the southern constellation of the dolphinfish (Dorado). Being only about 160,000 light years away, many details of the LMC's structure can be seen, such as its central bar and its single spiral arm. The LMC harbors numerous stellar nurseries where new stars are being born, which appear in pink in the featured image. It is home to the Tarantula Nebula, the currently most active star forming region in the entire Local Group, a small collection of nearby galaxies dominated by the massive Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies. Studies of the LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) by Henrietta Swan Leavitt led to the discovery of the period-luminosity relationship of Cepheid variable stars that are used to measure distances across the nearby universe.
TOPICS: Astronomy; Astronomy Picture of the Day; Science
KEYWORDS: apod; nasa
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For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
1 posted on 10/02/2024 1:43:28 PM PDT by MtnClimber
To: MtnClimber
2 posted on 10/02/2024 1:43:52 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
To: 21stCenturion; 21twelve; 4everontheRight; abb; AFB-XYZ; AFPhys; Agatsu77; America_Right; ...
Pinging the APOD list
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3 posted on 10/02/2024 1:44:35 PM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery and wildlife, click on my screen name for my FR home page. More photos added.)
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