Lying at a distance of 163 kly, the Large Magellanic Cloud is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way. Residing in the leading edge of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), the Tarantula Nebula is the most active starburst (H II) region in the Local Group. Aptly known as an “astronomical treasure-house”, the LMC is the home to a wide range of galactic objects and phenomena. There are roughly 60 globular clusters, 400 planetary nebulae, and 700 open clusters, along with hundreds of thousands of giant and supergiant stars. Having a mass of 10¹⁰ M☉, it is the fourth largest galaxy in the Local Group, with a diameter of 14,000 ly. The LMC is visible as a faint cloud only in the southern celestial hemisphere and from latitudes south of 20° N, straddling the border between the constellations of Dorado and Mensa. And appears 20 times larger than the Moon’s diameter when viewed away from light pollution.
The LMC is classified as a Magellanic spiral, an intermediary between dwarf spiral galaxy and irregular galaxy. It has a prominent central bar and a spiral arm, having a rotation period of 250 million years. The LMC has about 30 billion stars, which is roughly one-tenth of the Milky Way’s population.
There is a bridge of gas connecting the Small Magellanic Cloud with the LMC, which is an evidence of the tidal interaction between the galaxies. The Magellanic Clouds have a common envelope of neutral hydrogen indicating they have been gravitationally bound for a long time. This bridge of gas is a star-forming site. The Milky Way and the LMC are expected to collide in approximately 2.4 billion years.
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