Magellanic Clouds

The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds
Small and Large Magellanic Clouds over Paranal Observatory
ALMA antennae bathed in red light. In the background are the southern Milky Way on the left and the Magellanic Clouds at the top.[1]

The Magellanic Clouds (Magellanic system[2][3] or Nubeculae Magellani[4]) are two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern celestial hemisphere. Orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, these satellite galaxies are members of the Local Group. Because both show signs of a bar structure, they are often reclassified as Magellanic spiral galaxies.

The two galaxies are the following:

The Magellanic clouds are visible to the unaided eye from the Southern Hemisphere, but cannot be observed from the most northern latitudes.

  1. ^ "Media Advisory: Virtual Press Conference to Mark ALMA Inauguration". ESO. Retrieved 3 April 2013.
  2. ^ Tepper-García, Thor; Bland-Hawthorn, Joss; Pawlowski, Marcel S.; Fritz, Tobias K. (2019-09-01). "The Magellanic System: the puzzle of the leading gas stream". Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 488 (1): 918–938. arXiv:1901.05636. doi:10.1093/mnras/stz1659. ISSN 0035-8711.
  3. ^ "Magellanic System | UW-Madison Astronomy". astro.wisc.edu. Retrieved 2022-06-14.
  4. ^ Allen, R. H. (1963). Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (Reprint ed.). New York: Dover Publications Inc. pp. 294–295.