# Small Magellanic Cloud event **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908 "2002-12-15T17:07:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/1 "2002-12-15T17:07:47Z")
In a special edition of Life (maybe it was their last year-end edition) there was a one-page item that I just came across that says the following: > [@](#): > > Small Magellanic Cloud > > A long time ago (about 1,000 years), in a galaxy far away (about 190,000 light-years), a star exploded. The story goes on to talk about how the Chandra X-Ray Observatory picked up x-ray transmissions from this event. Is this a misprint? How could information about an event that occurred 190,000 light-years away reach us in only 1,000 years? ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/2 "2002-12-15T17:12:46Z")
Must be a misprint. ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/3 "2002-12-15T17:13:57Z")
Unless they mean the event has been observable for 100 years 😕 ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/4 "2002-12-15T17:15:11Z")
sorry, 1000 years of course ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/5 "2002-12-15T17:47:20Z")
Maybe they meant the light from 190,000 reached us 1000 years ago, not that it happened 1000 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/6 "2002-12-15T19:09:06Z")
**Enola** is right. Event dates are based on when the light reaches Earth – and, if any records exist, when the observation was made. [Here’s](http://observe.arc.nasa.gov/nasa/ootw/1999/ootw_991110/ob991110.html) an example of how such events or objects are described: > [@](#): > > The [Crab] nebula…lies at a distance of roughly 7,000 light-years from Earth…[It is] the result of a supernova that, according to Chinese and Japanese chronicles, exploded in 1054. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2002, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/small-magellanic-cloud-event/142908/7 "2002-12-15T20:34:40Z")
[Here’s](http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/chandra_image_000414.html) a clear explanation of the event in the SMC in the OP.