Neighboring Galaxy: The Large Magellanic Cloud

The brightest galaxy visible from our own Milky Way Galaxy is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Visible predominantly from Earth's Southern Hemisphere , the LMC is the second closest galaxy , neighbor to the Small Magellanic Cloud , and one of eleven known dwarf galaxies that orbit our Milky Way Galaxy. The LMC is an irregular galaxy composed of a bar of older red stars, clouds of younger blue stars, and a bright red star forming region visible near the top of the above image called the Tarantula Nebula . The brightest supernova of modern times, SN1987A , occurred in the LMC .