Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), Gaia image. The LMC is about 50, 000 light years wide. It is part of the Local Group of galaxies that includes the Milky Way. It is around 170, 000 light years from Earth in the constellations of Dorado and Mensa. This view is not a photograph but has been compiled by mapping the total amount of radiation detected by ESA's Gaia spacecraft in each pixel, combined with measurements of the radiation taken through different filters to generate colour information. The image is dominated by the brightest, most massive stars, which greatly outshine the fainter, lower-mass stars. In this view, the bar of the LMC is outlined in great detail, along with individual regions of star formation like 30 Doradus, visible just above the centre of the galaxy. Image published in 2018. |