• Key Information

  • Small Magellanic Cloud

  • Type
    Dwarf Galaxy (Irregular)
  • Diameter
    7,000 light years
  • Distance
    203,700 light years
  • Total Stars
    Possibly up to a billion
  • Date of Discovery
    Unknown
  • Learning Point
  • The Small Magellanic Cloud is a small, dwarf galaxy that is irrregular in shape. It is a nearby galactic neighbour, and it orbits around our Milky Way galaxy.
  • Project
  • Draw the Small Magellenic Cloud.
  • Location
  • Located in
    Tucana the Toucan, within the Local Cluster (of galaxies)
  • Fun Facts
  • Along with the nearby Large Magellanic Cloud, and several other smaller galaxies, the two dwarf galaxies orbit the Milky Way in our Local Group, a cluster of galaxies in our galactic neighbourhood.
  • It covers an area of the night sky that is about 8 times the width of the moon.
  • It can only be seen clearly when looked at from close to the equator, or in the southern hemisphere of the Earth.
  • It might have a small bar, suggesting it might have been a barred spiral galaxy in the past.
  • Many different stars that emit X-Rays are found in the Small Magellanic Cloud.