Small Magellanic Cloud

The Small Magellanic Cloud, or SMC, is one of two small irregularly shaped satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way Galaxy. This picture shows the SMC in a pseudo-color image, with a contour plot added to show better definition of the structure. This is an Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) image of the 100 micron wavelength data. It's close proximity to the Milky Way (about 150 thousand light years) makes the Small Magellanic Cloud a prime object for detailed studies of the properties of external galaxies.