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The brightest galaxy in the sky is the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). It lies in
the constellation Doradus and is not visible from northern latitudes. Both the
LMC and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), which ranks as the second brightest
galaxy, have the appearance of detached blobs of the Milky Way. The integrated
visual magnitudes of the LMC and SMC are about 0 and 2 respectively. These two
small galaxies are satellites of the Milky Way, and the nearest galaxies to the
solar system, apart from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. The Sagittarius Dwarf
does not compare, however, since it is in the process of merging with our
Galaxy and cannot be distinguished by eye from the multitude of stars within
the Milky Way.
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(1998).ISO/media/record_breakers/graphics/briggalx.jpg)