Small Magellanic Cloud
A dwarf irregular galaxy that is a satellite of the Milky Way, situated about 210,000 light-years away in the constellation Tucana. The SMC is characterized by its low metallicity and active star-forming regions like NGC 346.
Source: science.nasa.gov
APODs including "Small Magellanic Cloud"
Meteor between the Clouds
20/11/2009
This bright meteor streaked through dark night skies over Sutherland, South Africa on November 15. Potentially part of the annual Leonid meteor shower, its sudden, brilliant appearance, likened to a camera's flash, was captured by chance as it passed between two clouds. Of course, the two clouds are also visible to the eye in dark southern skies - the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds - satellite galaxies of our own Milky Way. This year's Leonid meteor shower peaked on November 17 as the Earth passed through the stream of dust from periodic comet Tempel-Tuttle.