Magellanic Clouds
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The Magellanic Clouds are two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern celestial hemisphere. Orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, these satellite galaxies are members of the Local Group. Because both show signs of a bar structure, they are often reclassified as Magellanic spiral galaxies.
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
Small and Large Magellanic Clouds over Paranal Observatory
ALMA antennae bathed in red light. In the background are the southern Milky Way on the left and the Magellanic Clouds at the top.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
Henrietta Swan Leavitt
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Henrietta Swan Leavitt was an American astronomer. Her discovery of how to effectively measure vast distances to remote galaxies led to a shift in the scale and understanding of the scale and the nature of the universe. Nomination of Leavitt for the Nobel Prize had to be halted because of her death.
The observatory at Harvard where Henrietta Swan Leavitt worked
Henrietta Leavitt (third from left) is shown working among "The Harvard Computers" who assisted astronomer Edward Charles Pickering at the Harvard College Observatory. The assistants also included Annie Jump Cannon, Williamina Fleming, and Antonia Maury.
Leavitt working at her desk in the Harvard College Observatory