The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)

Part of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC)

The two Magellanic Clouds are irregular dwarf galaxies that may be orbiting our Milky Way galaxy[1], and thus are members of our Local Group of galaxies. The Large Magellanic Cloud CREDIT: C-141 KAO Imagery: Supernova 1987A (April 1987 - New Zealand Deployment) Large Magellanic Cloud; Photographer: C-141 Imagery; Date: Jun 23, 1987. ... The Large Magellanic Cloud CREDIT: C-141 KAO Imagery: Supernova 1987A (April 1987 - New Zealand Deployment) Large Magellanic Cloud; Photographer: C-141 Imagery; Date: Jun 23, 1987. ... The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own galaxy, the Milky Way. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2377x2217, 1242 KB) Summary Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (2377x2217, 1242 KB) Summary Licensing File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. ... NGC1427A, an example of an irregular galaxy. ... A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of up to several billion stars, a small number compared to our own Milky Ways 200-400 billion stars. ... Astronomers classify galaxies based on their overall shape (elliptical, spiral or barred spiral) and further by the specific properties of the individual galaxy (for example degree of ellipse, number of spirals or definition of bar). ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ... NGC 4414, a typical spiral galaxy in the constellation Coma Berenices, is about 56,000 light-years in diameter and approximately 60 million light-years distant. ... A member of the Local Group of galaxies, irregular galaxy Sextans A is 4. ...

History

They were certainly known since the earliest times by the ancient southerners. The first preserved mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud was by Persian astronomer Al Sufi, who in 964, in his Book of Fixed Stars, calls it Al Bakr, the White Ox of the southern Arabs, and points out that while invisible from Northern Arabia and Baghdad, this object is visible from the strait of Bab el Mandeb, at 12°15' Northern latitude. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own galaxy, the Milky Way. ... Al Sufi from The Depiction of Celestial Constellations Abd Al-Rahman Al Sufi (December 7, 903 – May 25, 986) was a Persian astronomer also known as Abd ar-Rahman as-Sufi, or Abd al-Rahman Abu al-Husain, and known in the west as Azophi. ... Events Nicephorus II begins campaign to recapture Cilicia. ... The Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula is a mainly desert peninsula in Southwest Asia at the junction of Africa and Asia and an important part of the greater Middle East. ... Baghdad ( translit: ) is the capital of Iraq and of Baghdad Governorate. ... Simplified diagram A strait is a narrow channel of water that connects two larger bodies of water, and thus lies between two land masses. ... The Bab-el-Mandeb (Arabic for the gate of tears) is the strait separating the continents of Asia (Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula) and Africa (Djibouti, north of Somalia on the Horn of Africa), connecting the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean (Gulf of Aden). ... Latitude, usually denoted symbolically by the Greek letter phi, , gives the location of a place on Earth north or south of the equator. ...

In Europe, it was the expedition of Ferdinand Magellan that first observed the clouds during the circumnavigation in 1519-1522, as reported by Antonio Pigafetta. However, naming the clouds after Magellan did not become widespread until much later. In Bayer's Uranometria (1603) they are called "Nubecula Maior" [2] and "Nubecula Minor"; even in a 1795 French edition of Flamsteed's star atlas, they are designated as "Le Grand Nuage" and "Le Petit Nuage" [3] (in both cases this means simply "Large nebula" and "Small nebula", in Latin and French correspondingly). The Magellanic Clouds' radial velocity and proper velocity were recently accurately measured by a team from Harvard University's Smithsonian Department of Astrophysics to produce a 3-D velocity measurement that clocked their passage through the Milky Way galaxy in excess of 300 miles per second using input from Hubble Telescope. Ferdinand Magellan (Portuguese: Fernão de Magalhães, IPA pronunciation: //; Spanish: or Hernando de Magallanes; Spring 1480–April 27, 1521) was a Portuguese maritime explorer who, at the service of Spain, led the first successful attempt to sail around the entire Earth. ... To circumnavigate a place, such as an island, a continent, or the Earth, is to travel all the way around it by boat or ship. ... Antonio Pigafetta (ca. ... Uranometrias engraving of the constellation Orion, courtesy of the US Naval Observatory Library Uranometria is the short title of a star atlas produced by Johann Bayer. ... John Flamsteed. ...

Characteristics

The Large Magellanic Cloud and its neighbour and relative, the Small Magellanic Cloud, are conspicuous objects in the southern hemisphere, looking like separated pieces of the Milky Way to the naked eye. Roughly 21° apart in the night sky, the true distance between them is roughly 75,000 light-years. Until the discovery of the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy in 1994, they were the closest known galaxies to our own. The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own galaxy, the Milky Way. ... The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ... A degree (in full, a degree of arc, arc degree, or arcdegree), usually symbolized °, is a measurement of plane angle, representing 1／360 of a full rotation. ... Light Years is also the American name of the Rene Laloux animated film Gandahar. ... The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (Sag DEG) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ...

Observation, and theoretical evidence suggests that the LMC and SMC have been greatly distorted by tidal interaction with the Milky Way as they orbit around it; streams of neutral hydrogen connect them to the Milky Way and to each other, and both resemble disrupted barred spiral galaxies. (Zeilik) However, their gravity has affected our Galaxy as well, distorting the outer parts of the galactic disk. (Chaisson and McMillan) Tides are the cyclic rising and falling of Earths ocean surface caused by the tidal forces of the Moon and the Sun acting on the Earth. ... In physics, an orbit is the path that an object makes, around another object, whilst under the influence of a source of centripetal force, such as gravity. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... Gravity is a force of attraction that acts between bodies that have mass. ... It has been proposed below that Disc (galaxy) be renamed and moved to galactic disc. ...

Aside from their different structure and lower mass, they differ from our Galaxy in two major ways. First, they are gas-rich; a relatively higher fraction of their mass is hydrogen and helium compared to the Milky Way.[4]. 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.[5] Both are noted for their nebulae and young stellar populations, but as in our own Galaxy their stars range from the very young to the very old, indicating a long stellar formation history.(Chaisson and McMillan) General Name, Symbol, Number helium, He, 2 Chemical series noble gases Group, Period, Block 18, 1, s Appearance colorless Atomic mass 4. ... For alternate meanings see star (disambiguation) Hundreds of stars are visible in this image taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of the Sagittarius Star Cloud in the Milky Way Galaxy. ... In astronomy, the metallicity of an object is the proportion of its matter made up of chemical elements other than hydrogen and helium. ... The Triangulum Emission Nebula NGC 604 lies in a spiral arm of Galaxy M33, 2. ... Stars observed in our galaxy appear to group into two general types called Population I and Population II. (A hypothetical third group, Population III, does not occur in our galaxy. ... Star formation is the process by which dense parts of molecular clouds collapse into a ball of plasma to form a star. ...

The Large Magellanic Cloud was host galaxy to a supernova (SN 1987A), the brightest observed in over three centuries. Multiwavelength X-ray image of the remnant of Keplers Supernova, SN 1604. ... Beaded ring brightens from 2003 and 2005 SN 1987A was a supernova in the outskirts of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby dwarf galaxy. ...

In fiction

See Galaxies in fiction.

Galaxies other than the Milky Way are popular settings for creators of science fiction, particularly those working with broad-scale space opera settings. ...

References

• Eric Chaisson and Steve McMillan, Astronomy Today, (Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1993), p. 550.

• Michael Zeilik, Conceptual Astronomy, (New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1993), pp. 357-8.

External links

• Magellanic Clouds Working Group

See also

• Local Group
• Irregular Galaxies
• Magellanic Stream
• Magellanic Bridge

The Milky Way v • d • e

Galactic Core: Center of the Milky Way Spiral Arms: Carina Arm | Crux Arm | Cygnus Arm | Norma Arm | Orion Arm | Perseus Arm | Sagittarius Arm | Scutum Arm Location: Universe | Virgo Supercluster | Local Group Satellite galaxies: Boötes Dwarf | Canes Venatici Dwarf | Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy | Carina Dwarf | Draco Dwarf | Fornax Dwarf | Large Magellanic Cloud | Leo I | Leo II | Sag DEG | Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy | Sextans Dwarf | Small Magellanic Cloud | Ursa Major Dwarf | Ursa Minor Dwarf | Virgo Stellar Stream A member of the Local Group of galaxies, irregular galaxy Sextans A is 4. ... Wikipedia does not yet have an article with this exact name. ... // Introduction Hierarchical Clustering tells us that galaxies are built up over time from collisions of smaller galaxies. ... The Magellanic Bridge is a stream of neutral hydrogen that links the two Magellanic Clouds. ... The Milky Way (a translation of the Latin Via Lactea, in turn derived from the Greek Γαλαξίας (Galaxias), sometimes referred to simply as the Galaxy), is a barred spiral galaxy of the Local Group. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1350x1350, 954 KB)Barred Spiral Milky Way Illustration Credit: R. Hurt (SSC), JPL-Caltech, NASA From http://apod. ... The Galactic Center is the rotational center of the Milky Way galaxy. ... The Sagittarius Arm or Sagittarius-Carina Arm (labeled -I) is one of two major spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, along with the Cygnus Arm. ... The Scutum-Crux Arm or Centaurus Arm is a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. ... Diagram of the Milky Ways spiral arms. ... The Norma Arm or 3-kpc Arm is an inner spiral arm at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. ... Observed structure of the Milky Ways spiral arms The Orion Arm or Local Arm (labeled 0) is a minor, spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. ... The Perseus Arm (labeled +I) is a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy with a radius of 10. ... The Sagittarius Arm or Sagittarius-Carina Arm (labeled -I) is one of two major spiral arms of the Milky Way galaxy, along with the Cygnus Arm. ... The Scutum-Crux Arm or Centaurus Arm is a spiral arm of the Milky Way galaxy. ... The universe from a speculative theoretical physicists point of view can be described as the sum of all matter and energy that exists and the space-time in which they are located and in which all events occur or could occur. ... The Virgo Supercluster or Local Supercluster is the supercluster of galaxies that contains the Local Group and with it our galaxy, the Milky Way. ... A member of the Local Group of galaxies, irregular galaxy Sextans A is 4. ... Category: ... The Boötes Dwarf Galaxy (Boo dSph) is the faintest galaxy yet discovered, as of 2006, with a total luminosity of 100,000 Suns, and an absolute magnitude of -5. ... The Canes Venatici Dwarf Galaxy (CVn dSph) is the most distant satellite galaxy of the Milky Way as of 2006. ... The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy is located in the same part of the sky as the constellation of Canis Major. ... The Carina Dwarf is a dwarf galaxy in the Carina constellation. ... The Draco Dwarf galaxy was discovered by Albert G. Wilson of Lowell Observatory in 1954. ... The Fornax Dwarf is a dwarf galaxy in the constellation Fornax that was discovered in 1938 by Harlow Shapley. ... The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy that orbits our own galaxy, the Milky Way. ... Leo I is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the constellation Leo. ... Leo II (or Leo B) is an dwarf spheroidal galaxy of the Local Group, in the constellation of Leo. ... The Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (Sag DEG) is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way Galaxy. ... for SDIG, see Sculptor Dwarf Irregular Galaxy The Sculptor Dwarf Galaxy (also called E351-G30, PGC 3589, A0058, Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy) is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the Local Group that is a satellite of the Milky Way in the direction of the constellation of Sculptor. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Sextans A. (Discuss) The Sextans Dwarf Spheroidal is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy that was discovered in 1990 by Mike Irwin, M.T. Bridgeland, P.S. Bunclark and R.G. McMahon as the 8th satellite of the Milky Way... The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC for short) is a dwarf galaxy in orbit around the Milky Way Galaxy. ... Ursa Major Dwarf is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy orbiting the Milky Way galaxy. ... The Ursa Minor Dwarf dwarf galaxy was discovered by A.G. Wilson of the Lowell Observatory in 1954. ... The Virgo Stellar Stream (or Virgo Overdensity) is the proposed name for a stream of stars in the constellation of Virgo which was discovered in 2005. ...