The Large Magellanic Cloud is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way located around 163,000 light years away.
It is massive in the field of view covering an area of 462 x 516 arc minutes.
Although a dwarf galaxy with only 30 billion stars, the proximity provides a unique opportunity to view star forming regions and nebulae including the Tarantula Nebulae the brightest stellar nursery in our region of the cosmos.
The galaxy is rich in dust and gas with very active star forming regions and many globular clusters.
In order to capture the entire galaxy this image is made up of 12 separate image panels forming a mosaic of the galaxy. It consists of a total of nearly 150 hours of exposure time and in full resolution is 300 megapixels with a file size of around 1.3 gb.
Imaged in LRGB and H alpha on my Planewave DR 350 at Observatorio El Sauce, Chile.
Full resolution image is here
Image Acquisition and Processing: Mike Selby