AAO image reference AAT 102a. « Previous || Next »
Top left is NE. Image width is about 32 arc min
Image and text © Anglo-Australian Observatory, Photograph by David Malin.
The nearest galaxy to the Milky Way is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which we see from more or less face-on from a distance of 170,000 light years. Magellanic-type galaxies are quite rare, and for purely statistical reasons, so are edge-on galaxies. We are therefore especially fortunate to have an edge-on example of a Magellanic-type galaxy which is nearby. NGC 55 is at a distance of about 5 million light years, which is close enough for us to see it resolved into individual stars. However, NGC 55 is not rich in star forming regions, probably because it is not interacting with any nearby companion galaxy, unlike the LMC, which is interacting with both the Milky Way and Small Magellanic Cloud. This image shows a slightly wider field than AAT 102.
Entry from NGC 2000.0 (R.W. Sinnott, Ed.) © Sky Publishing Corporation, 1988: