Satellite DNA is a repetitive DNA sequence found in eukaryotic organisms that constitute a major portion of the genome. The term "satellite" is used because these sequences are often located in the satellite regions of the chromosome, which are located near the centromere. Other synonyms for satellite DNA include tandemly repeated DNA, highly repetitive DNA, and microsatellite DNA. Tandemly repeated DNA refers to the fact that the sequences are found in repeating units, while highly repetitive DNA refers to the occurrence of large numbers of these repetitions. Microsatellite DNA is a subset of satellite DNA that consists of short repeating sequences of two to six nucleotides.