Explanation:
A satellite galaxy of our Milky Way, the
Small Magellanic
Cloud is wonder of the southern sky, named for 16th century Portuguese
circumnavigator Ferdinand Magellan.
Some 200,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana,
the small irregular galaxy's stars, gas, and dust that lie along
a bar and extended "wing", are familiar in images
from optical telescopes.
But the galaxy also has a tail.
Explored in this
false-color, infrared mosaic from the
Spitzer Space Telescope,
the tail extends to the right of the more familiar bar and wing.
Likely stripped from the galaxy by gravitational tides, the tail
contains mostly gas, dust, and
newly formed stars.
Two clusters of newly formed stars, warming their surrounding
natal dust clouds, are seen in the tail as red spots.
Note: An
APOD editor will review astronomy images of 2009,
hosted by the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York on Friday,
January 8 at the American Museum of Natural History, NYC.
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