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Astronomer Laura Danly of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) has taken a major step in solving a 3 year old mystery by measuring, for the first time, the distance to a high-velocity cloud of cool hydrogen gas. The results show conclusively that the cloud, and presumably others like it, dwell in the "halo" of our Milky Way Galaxy, rather than being between galaxies or in our own stellar neighborhood. (The halo is a spherical region surrounding the spiral disk of our galaxy).

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      News Media Contact
      Melissa Pamer
      Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
      626-314-4928
      melissa.pamer@jpl.nasa.gov
      2025-044
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      Last Updated Mar 31, 2025 Related Terms
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      Say hello to one of the Milky Way’s neighbors! This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope image features a scene from one of the closest galaxies to the Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The SMC is a dwarf galaxy located about 200,000 light-years away. Most of the galaxy resides in the constellation Tucana, but a small section crosses over into the neighboring constellation Hydrus.
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      Claire Andreoli (claire.andreoli@nasa.gov)
      NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD
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      Last Updated Mar 21, 2025 Editor Andrea Gianopoulos Location NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Related Terms
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