Here we have a picture of the 'Small Cloud of Magellan'. These clouds were discovered by Magellan on his voyage around the world. They are visible primarily from the southern hemisphere.
The Small Cloud is what is known as a 'Irregular Dwarf Galaxy', a galaxy that acts as a satellite to our own. This relationship is similar to the relationship our moon has to Earth. Being the 'Small' Cloud, it has a sister galaxy known as the Large Cloud of Magellan (Those astronomers sure were creative namers!). To the naked eye, it appears to be a part of the Milky Way Galaxy, but is in fact beyond. 210,000 light years beyond to be exact. It is of irregular type, which means it has been deformed by the gravitational influences of our galaxy, and it's sister, the Large Cloud of Magellan.
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