Hubble Focuses on Star-Studded Region in Neighbor Galaxy

A new image taken with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows a small region of the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way.

The Small Magellanic Cloud is an elongated dwarf galaxy known for its less pronounced bar and its eastern extension.

Also known as NGC 292 or LEDA 3085, it lies approximately 200,000 light-years away from Earth and stretches 7,000 light-years across.

“Most of the Small Magellanic Cloud resides in the constellation of Tucana, but a small section crosses over into the neighboring constellation of Hydrus,” the Hubble astronomers said.

“Thanks to its proximity, the Small Magellanic Cloud is one of only a few galaxies that can be seen from Earth without the help of a telescope or binoculars.”

“For viewers in the southern hemisphere and some latitudes in the northern hemisphere, the Small Magellanic Cloud resembles a piece of the Milky Way that has broken off, though in reality it’s much farther away than any part of our own Galaxy.”

The new Hubble image captures a small region of the Small Magellanic Cloud near the center of NGC 346, a star cluster that is home to dozens of massive young stars.

The image was made from separate exposures taken in the ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared regions of the spectrum with Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3).

“With its 2.4-m ‘eye’ and sensitive instruments, Hubble’s view of the Small Magellanic Cloud is far more detailed and vivid than what humans can see,” the astronomers said.

“We used Hubble’s Wide Field Camera 3 instrument to observe this scene through four different filters.”

“Each filter admits different wavelengths of light, creating a multicolored view of dust clouds drifting across a field of stars.”

“Hubble’s view, however, is much more zoomed-in than our eyes, the better for it to observe very distant objects.”