Deep sky · Galaxy in Dorado · LMC · PGC 17223
Galaxy
Large Magellanic Cloud
The Large Magellanic Cloud: a small galaxy orbiting ours, easy to see by eye from the southern hemisphere, like a torn-off piece of the Milky Way.
- Type
- Galaxy
- Designations
- LMC · PGC 17223
- Constellation
- Dorado
- Apparent magnitude
- 0.9
- Apparent size
- 10.8° × 9.2°
- Position (J2000)
- RA 5h 24m · Dec −69° 45′
History
Described by al-Ṣūfī in 964, and named after Magellan, whose crew reported it on the first voyage around the world, 1519–22.
Discovery
In 1987 a supernova exploded in it, the nearest seen since 1604. Detectors in Japan and the US caught two dozen neutrinos from it.