Fireworks will light up the skies of many cities and towns this week – celebrations of Independence Day.

For a real fireworks display, though, you might want to visit one of the Milky Way’s companion galaxies. It’s giving birth to many thousands of new stars, including some of the biggest and brightest yet seen anywhere – a result not of independence, but of a close relationship with another galaxy.

The Large Magellanic Cloud is too far south to see from the continental United States. In southern-hemisphere skies, though, it’s quite a sight – a bright cloud that’s several times bigger than the full Moon.

The galaxy is much smaller and fainter than the Milky Way. But it’s right next door – just 160,000 light-years away. That’s one of the reasons it looks so bright.

Another is that the galaxy contains millions of hot young stars – stars that are thousands of times brighter than the Sun. And it’s giving birth to more. In fact, it contains a stellar nursery that’s far more impressive than anything in the Milky Way. We’ll have more about that tomorrow.

The fireworks probably are the result of an interaction with another galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud. The smaller galaxy passed close to the bigger one.

That encounter squeezed giant clouds of gas and dust. The clouds split into smaller clumps, which gave birth to new stars – creating fireworks in a busy galaxy.

Script by Damond Benningfield