= Large Magellanic Cloud
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= LMC
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{synonym}
The <Large Magellanic Cloud> is a nearby <galaxy> interacting with the <Milky Way>, containing stars whose independently measurable properties help calibrate astronomical distances. Its proximity makes it possible to combine stellar observations that are much harder to separate in more distant systems.
In a late-type <eclipsing binary>, orbital velocities and eclipse geometry constrain linear stellar sizes; a surface-brightness <calibration> supplies corresponding angular sizes. Comparing the two gives a <distance> anchor rather than assuming one fixed <luminosity> for every <star>.<An eclipsing-binary distance to the Large Magellanic Cloud accurate to two per cent by G. Pietrzyński and others>[Abstract: distances from linear and angular stellar sizes]{ref} Such <calibration> still has systematic uncertainty and samples a <galaxy> with finite depth.
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