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Explanation: Cosmic dust clouds ripple across this infrared portrait of our Milky Way's satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. In fact, the remarkable composite image from the Herschel Space Observatory and the Spitzer Space Telescope show that dust clouds fill this neighboring dwarf galaxy, much like dust along the plane of the Milky Way itself. The dust temperatures tend to trace star forming activity. Spitzer data in blue hues indicate warm dust heated by young stars. Herschel's instruments contributed the image data shown in red and green, revealing dust emission from cooler and intermediate regions where star formation is just beginning or has stopped. Dominated by dust emission, the Large Magellanic Cloud's infrared appearance is different from views in optical images. But this galaxy's well-known Tarantula Nebula still stands out, easily seen here as the brightest region to the left of center. A mere 160,000 light-years distant, the Large Cloud of Magellan is about 30,000 light-years across.
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NASA Official: Jay Norris. Specific rights apply.
A service of: LHEA at NASA / GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
Based on Astronomy Picture
Of the Day
Publications with keywords: LMC - dust cloud
Publications with words: LMC - dust cloud
See also:
- APOD: 2025 October 26 Á Halloween and the Ghost Head Nebula
- APOD: 2024 November 18 Á Stars and Dust in the Pacman Nebula
- APOD: 2024 September 24 Á NGC 6727: The Rampaging Baboon Nebula
- The Tarantula Zone
- The Large Cloud of Magellan
- APOD: 2023 August 27 Á Three Galaxies and a Comet
- Galactic Cirrus: Mandel Wilson 9