Home › Universe › Large Magellanic Cloud

Dwarf galaxy – companion of the Milky Way

Large Magellanic Cloud

In 1987 a star exploded here: Supernova 1987A, the nearest stellar explosion observed since 1604 – visible to the naked eye.

▶ View in the 3D model

Key figures

Distance

160,000 light-years

Diameter

about 14,000 light-years

Stars

about 30 billion

In the sky

visible only from the southern hemisphere

Interesting facts

• The Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud is the largest star-forming region in the whole Local Group.

Name

Named after the seafarer Ferdinand Magellan, whose crew described the clouds during the first voyage around the world in 1519. The people of the southern hemisphere had of course known them for far longer.

Where is it?

Large Magellanic Cloud belongs to the “The Local Group” level of the Cosmic Zoom (field of view about 10 million light-years). The Milky Way is not alone: together with the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy and around 80 small dwarf galaxies it forms the Local Group.

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