Which smaller naked-eye satellite galaxy is paired with the Large Magellanic Cloud?

The smaller naked-eye satellite galaxy paired with the Large Magellanic Cloud is the Small Magellanic Cloud.

The Small Magellanic Cloud, or SMC, is a dwarf irregular galaxy about 200,000 light-years away and a member of the Local Group. It appears as a faint, hazy patch in the southern sky, mainly across Tucana and Hydrus, and is among the most distant objects visible without optical aid.

The SMC and LMC are not merely a visual pair. A bridge of neutral hydrogen connects them, recording their gravitational interaction, while a shared hydrogen envelope indicates that they have been bound together for a long time. The SMC is also a satellite of the Milky Way and may previously have been a satellite of the LMC.

A common mix-up is to treat the Magellanic Clouds as nebulae within the Milky Way. They are separate dwarf galaxies. The SMC spans roughly 4.2 degrees on the sky—about eight lunar diameters—but its low surface brightness makes dark, moonless skies especially helpful for seeing it.