Every day, NASA selects a different image from the Universe to feature on its website. The chosen one for this Thursday (7th) presents a breathtaking view of the Large Magellanic Cloud, named in honor of the 16th-century Portuguese explorer, Fernão de Magalhães.
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During the first circumnavigation of the Earth, a maritime journey around our planet, Magellan and his team had the opportunity to study the southern hemisphere sky in detail. This exploration led to the discovery of these two diffuse “clouds,” which are now known as satellite galaxies of the Milky Way.
In the image, you can observe a patch just above the center, known as the Tarantula Nebula, which spans approximately a thousand light-years in diameter, a true stellar nursery.
The Large Magellanic Cloud is located about 160,000 light-years away in the Dorado constellation and is the most massive satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
Source: NASA ‘Astronomy Picture of the Day’
