Little Wing | Space Wallpaper

Wing of Small Magellanic Cloud space wallpaper
The tip of the "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is dazzling in this space wallpaper from NASA's Great Observatories. (Image credit: NASA/CXC/JPL-Caltech/STScI)

The tip of the "wing" of the Small Magellanic Cloud galaxy is dazzling in this space wallpaper from NASA's Great Observatories. The Small Magellanic Cloud, or SMC, is a small galaxy about 200,000 light-years way that orbits our own Milky Way spiral galaxy.The colors represent wavelengths of light across a broad spectrum. X-rays from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory are shown in purple; visible-light from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope is colored red, green and blue; and infrared observations from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope are also represented in red. This image was released April 3, 2013.

Space.com Staff
Space.com is the premier source of space exploration, innovation and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier. We transport our visitors across the solar system and beyond through accessible, comprehensive coverage of the latest news and discoveries. For us, exploring space is as much about the journey as it is the destination.