Photo taken during Townsville Astronomy Group viewing night.
The "Magellanic clouds" are two companion galaxies of the Milky Way. The Small Magellanic Cloud is about 200,000 light years away, and the Large Magellanic Cloud is a bit closer. Both are dwarf irregular galaxies, but show some degree of spiral structure. It is possible that they used to be spiral galaxies, but their shape was disrupted by tidal forces from the Milky Way.
The Magellanic clouds are easily visible under a dark sky, but not in city lights. These two galaxies trick us all the time, as they look exactly like a small cloud, and we think: oh no, some clouds rolling in!!
Submitted by: LizG
Location: Ace aerodrome about 1 hr west of Townsville, N. Australia
