The Small Magellanic Cloud pictured above actually spans 15,000 light-years or so and contains several hundred million stars.
About 210,000 light-years distant in the constellation Tucana, it is the fourth closest of the Milky Way's known satellite galaxies, after the Canis Major and Sagittarius Dwarf galaxies and the Large Magellanic Cloud.
This gorgeous view also includes two foreground globular star clusters NGC 362 (top left) and 47 Tucanae.
Spectacular 47 Tucanae is a mere 13,000 light-years away and seen here to the right of the Small Magellanic Cloud.
