The Large Magellanic Cloud contains a highly active starbirth region called the Tarantula Nebula. It is part of a larger cloud of gas and dust, and its high rate of star formation may be caused by compression of interstellar gas and dust by the collision of the cloud with the interstellar medium.The Large Magellanic Cloud contains a highly active starbirth region called the Tarantula Nebula. It is part of a larger cloud of gas and dust, and its high rate of star formation may be caused by compression of interstellar gas and dust by the collision of the cloud with the interstellar medium.Jan 29, 2018
What is the Large Magellanic Cloud made of?
They are gas-rich; a higher fraction of their mass is hydrogen and helium compared to the Milky Way. They are also more metal-poor than the Milky Way; the youngest stars in the LMC and SMC have a metallicity of 0.5 and 0.25 times solar, respectively.
What is the Small Magellanic Cloud made of?
Located 200,000 light years away, the SMC has a mass of approximately 3 billion solar masses. Some observations suggest that it might be a barred disk galaxy, deformed by gravitational interactions with the Milky Way and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).
How old is the Small Magellanic Cloud?
Studying the brightness and colours of the stars in the cluster, astronomers have determined it's about 6.5 billion years old, roughly half the age of more common globular clusters.
Why is the Large Magellanic Cloud a galaxy?
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. As some of the closest galaxies to our home galaxy, they stand out as big, misty blobs of light under dark skies.
What do the Magellanic Clouds look like to the naked eye?
Without visual aids the Magellanic Clouds look like roughly rectangular patches of light, but with decent binoculars or a small telescope you can see nebulae strewn through the LMC.
Do the Magellanic Clouds have black holes?
For instance, the Large Magellanic Cloud, the largest of the “dwarf galaxies” orbiting the Milky Way, lacks a supermassive black hole. This also typically makes dwarf galaxies diffuse. The Large Magellanic Cloud has a relatively paltry 30 billion stars spread across 14,000 light years.
Do the Magellanic Clouds orbit the Milky Way?
The Magellanic Clouds were formed at about the same time as the Milky Way Galaxy, approximately 13 billion years ago. They are presently captured in orbits around the Milky Way Galaxy and have experienced several tidal encounters with each other and with the Galaxy.
Can you see Magellanic Clouds from Hawaii?
While the Magellanic Clouds are not visible from Hawaii, both objects are visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
How big are the Magellanic Clouds?
7,000 light yearsLarge Magellanic Cloud / Radius The LMC and SMC are 14,000 and 7,000 light-years in diameter, respectively—smaller than the Milky Way Galaxy, which is about 140,000 light-years across. Infant stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud.