Picture of the week from space: Hubble focuses on the shining galaxy adjacent
In the vast expanse of the cosmos, a nearby dwarf galaxy has captured the attention of astronomers worldwide. The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), a celestial neighbour located 200,000 light-years away in the constellations Tucana and Hydrus, has been the subject of recent observations by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and the James Webb Telescope.
The SMC is unique and intriguing due to its lack of the heavier elements found in large galaxies. This peculiarity is a result of its small size and the lack of multiple generations of stars. Unlike our Milky Way, which houses a staggering 100 billion stars, the SMC contains several hundred million. This small size makes the SMC a primitive building block of larger galaxies.
In March 2025, the Hubble Space Telescope captured a stunning image of the SMC before it was split. The observatory's 8-foot (2.4 meters) mirror was used to capture various wavelengths of light from the SMC, revealing its intricate structure and the SMC's role as a star factory. Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 was instrumental in this observation, illuminating the colourful view of clouds of gas and dust, lit up by the light of young stars in the SMC.
Meanwhile, the James Webb Telescope has made its own groundbreaking discoveries. It has revealed the best detail ever of a cosmic tornado in the SMC, and for the first time ever, captured auroras on Neptune.
The SMC is best seen from November to January, appearing as a cloudy patch in the night sky of the Southern Hemisphere. Its proximity and unique characteristics make it a valuable tool for astronomers seeking to understand the early universe.
NASA also recently shared a high-definition sunset on the moon, but the SMC continues to hold the spotlight as a captivating celestial body worthy of our continued exploration.
