Space Saturday V
Just imagine it is the 20th, okay?! I seem to be busy on the weekends, so, once again, I bring you the late edition of Space Saturday. And thanks to zandperl for reminding me to credit the photos! (oops!)
Today I bring you a bit of the south. For those in the southern hemisphere, this probably isn’t a big deal. The Large Magellanic Cloud.
Credit: Kuiper Airborne Observatory NASA-714, source.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is actually a dwarf galaxy that is orbiting our own Milky Way Galaxy as part of the Local Group of galaxies. The LMC is at a mere 160,000 (to 180,000 depending on the source!) light years from the Milky Way. Some speculate that the LMC used to be a barred spiral galaxy but has been torn apart by the gravitation interactions of the much more massive Milky Way. The Local Group, in which the LMC is the fourth largest memeber, consistes of some 30 galaxies in closest proximity to the Milky Way with Andromeda being the most massive. Check out a two dimensional “map” of the Local Group. Supernova 1987A along with the Tarantula Nebula are two interesting objects that reside in the LMC.
Ή χάρις του κυρίου ημων Ίησου Χριστου μεθ’ υμων.
. . . its like watching fireworks, oooooh, ahhhhhh. . .
I’m tryinng to convince my bf that our next vacation should be to somewhere like New Zealand or Australia. He doesn’t realize my ulterior motive of seeing Southern skies for the first time! *grin*
My midlife crisis list currently includes spending a year north of the Arctic circle (or south of the Antarctic). I’ve also got “get my PhD” and “become a street performer” on that list though, so I’m not sure they’ll all happen.