At rest, they observed the diamond-bright stars etched on the canopy of the heavens. Pigafetta turned his ever curious mind to making astronomical observations: “The Antarctic Pole is not so starry as the Arctic. Many small stars clustered together are seen, which have the appearance of two clouds of mist.” Without realizing it, Pigafetta had just recorded an observation of great consequence. These “clouds” are in fact two irregular dwarf galaxies orbiting our own galaxy and containing billions of stars enveloped in a gaseous blanket; they are known today as the Magellanic Clouds.
