Large Magellanic Cloud

E20343

The Large Magellanic Cloud is a nearby irregular dwarf galaxy visible from the Southern Hemisphere and notable for its role in studies of galaxy formation, stellar evolution, and the cosmic distance scale.


Statements (48)
Predicate Object
instanceOf astronomical object
galaxy
irregular dwarf galaxy
satellite galaxy
abbreviation LMC
angularSize about 10 degrees across on the sky
apparentMagnitudeV about 0.9
associatedWith Magellanic Stream
bestSeenFrom southern mid-latitudes
connectedBy Magellanic Bridge to the Small Magellanic Cloud
constellation Dorado
contains 30 Doradus
SN 1987A
Tarantula Nebula
numerous H II regions
old globular clusters
young massive star clusters
diameter about 14000 light-years
discovery known since antiquity to southern observers
distanceFromMilkyWay about 160000 light-years
about 50 kiloparsecs
galaxyType Magellanic irregular
barred Magellanic spiral
hasFeature Magellanic Bridge
extended gaseous disk
prominent bar structure
warped disk
interactsGravitationallyWith Milky Way
Small Magellanic Cloud
locatedIn Local Group
mass on the order of 10^10 solar masses
metallicity lower than Milky Way average
name Large Magellanic Cloud
namedAfter Ferdinand Magellan
observedBy Gaia spacecraft
Hubble Space Telescope
ground-based telescopes worldwide
orbitalCompanionOf Small Magellanic Cloud
orbitalStatus possibly on first infall into the Milky Way halo
regionOfSky southern celestial hemisphere
satelliteOf Milky Way
starFormationRate relatively high for its size
stellarMass on the order of 10^9 solar masses
usedFor Cepheid period–luminosity relation calibration
calibration of the cosmic distance scale
studies of galaxy formation
studies of stellar evolution
visibleFrom Southern Hemisphere


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