<p class="c0">The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), one of the Milky Way’s closest neighbors, appears as a technicolor swirl in this composite image released by NASA on April 4.</p><p class="c0">The SMC is technically a dwarf galaxy, but it’s so bright it can be seen by the unaided eye from the Southern Hemisphere and areas near the equator.</p><p class="c0">New observations from the&nbsp;<a class="c14" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/main/index.html">Chandra X-ray Observatory</a>—a space telescope launched by NASA in 1999—of the SMC’s “Wing” region are our first glimpse of x-ray emissions from young stars similar to our sun outside the Milky Way.</p><p class="c0">In this composite shot, Chandra data is shown in purple; optical data from the&nbsp;<a class="c14" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/main/index.html">Hubble Telescope</a> is red, green, and blue; and infrared data from the&nbsp;<a class="c14" href="http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/spitzer/main/index.html">Spitzer Space Telescope</a> is also shown in red.</p>