All About the Large Magellanic Cloud

This article shows everything you need to know about the magellanic cloud, keep reading so you know the most important aspects of this wonderful galaxy. Below we will show you its most outstanding characteristics, cosmic structure, morphology and much more.

Magellanic Cloud

What is the Magellanic cloud?

The Magellanic cloud, or also known as the Magellanic nebula, is a galaxy with a peculiar characteristic, this refers to the fact that it is called a dwarf galaxy, in contrast to other galaxies present in the space of the universe, it is much smaller than even the ours, for this reason it is determined as a dwarf galaxy.

History 

John Herschel, is recognized for being the first person in the history of the Magellanic cloud, who carefully observed this peculiar galaxy located 163.000 light years away, and in turn, characterized by being in position number three of the galaxies that approach to the milky way.

Said cloud located in the vicinity and proximity of the milky way, was not known in ancient times since it was completely indivisible before any time or perspective. Fact that kept it anonymous, but its existence is finally revealed over the years and the implementation of new technologies.

From southern Arabia, the cloud became visible. To later carry out studies about its appearance, characteristics and morphology, mention is made of its existence in a document written by an astronomer named Abd Al-Rahman Al Sifien. Who carried out the first astronomer-level record making mention of it in his documents.

On the other hand, on the European continent, Fernando de Magallanes was the one who gave himself the luxury of observing it during the undertaking of a trip that had as a special route, towards the surroundings of the earth. Through which he was able to spot and detect for the first time the great magellanic cloud. So that it is later given an official type name, but in the meantime, it is also called a small nebula.

Time after the name is given to said galaxy, it is called and cataloged as the Magellanic cloud in honor of the first who exposed and explained the existence of such a peculiar galaxy. The Milky Way, like all galaxies, has a huge structure, if we approach a galaxy like the Milky Way from a great distance, the first thing we will encounter will be small suburban galaxies, things like the Magellanic cloud, so as we If we get closer to the galaxy, we will find a spherical dispersion of globular clusters of stars.

Each with a hundred thousand to a million individual stars. As would be expected with every classification plan, some galaxies are neither spiral nor elliptical, but miscellaneous, including dwarf galaxies like the Magellanic cloud.

The Magellanic cloud was news for the whole world, thanks to the explosion of a supernova named 1987A that exploded in February 1987 in the Magellanic cloud that was deeply studied by astronomers to take into account the behavior of the star, studying the possible reactions and results that were going to develop for the moment of the epicenter.

La magellanic cloud It was considered the galaxy that was closest to the Milky Way, a fact that was later studied in depth, reaching the discovery in 1994 of an equally dwarf galaxy with elliptical characteristics, which was named the Sagittarius galaxy. To which later for the year 2003 a new galaxy is discovered that bears the name Can Mayor.

Therefore, the magellanic cloud was moved to position number three in the list of galaxies that are closest to the Milky Way, taking into account that it was considered the most immediate in terms of its position, to what is finally considered today one of the galaxies recognized, along with the Andromeda galaxy, and the Sagittarius elliptical.

Magellanic Cloud features

Characteristics of the Magellanic Cloud

The main feature of magellanic cloud, lies in its complete structure that is defined as a dwarf galaxy, which means that this one, like many others, breaks the mold, as it does not have elliptical or spiral-shaped characteristics. Its morphology means that scientists have included it in the list of those galaxies that have a peculiarly irregular shape.

It should be noted that not all galaxies present in the universe contain general shapes such as elliptical. Although most galaxies have a spiral design, some normally called dwarfs tend to contain particular shapes that immediately characterize them as irregular galaxies.

As we mentioned before, the elliptical galaxy of Sagittarius was discovered some time later, a fact that led scientists to study the position it occupies in the outer space where it lives. The results were surprising, discovering that this along with the magellanic cloud They are connected and related to each other.

At a distance of approximately 75 thousand light years, the Sagittarius galaxy and the magellanic cloud are at this distance apart. The distortion that occurs through the force exerted by the tide through an interaction with the Milky Way causes distortions that affect some effects that cause both galaxies to interact through some currents.

These currents are composed of neutral hydrogen, which causes both galaxies to develop an interaction effect that generally incurs some conditions that end up damaging the external features that correspond to their galactic disk.

Both magellanic cloud, like the galaxy of Saturn, have morphological characteristics that make them unique and extremely extraordinary, regarding the mass, and the structure that they possess, it is revealed that before these two components of mass, and structure, there are two aspects that differentiate them from shows Milky Way.

All the Characteristics of galaxies As these have high levels of gas, a product that immediately differentiates them from our galaxy, in addition, as an aspect to highlight, they do not have the possession of metals. Another aspect to highlight is that they are made up of nebulae, coupled with the possession of a congruence of young stars.

All the Science features allow that through astronomy, investigations take a new course, which reveal that the Magellanic cloud according to experts could have originated through a collision or blow, which unleashed the Andromeda galaxy, (our closest neighbor) and another galaxy, which caused the firing of debris and particles, which later ended up in our galaxy.

Finally, the discovery of this extraordinary galaxy represents for the scientific community a great advance in terms of knowledge and contributions that science through astronomy has provided to man thanks to the constant search that he incessantly does not stop generating.

Although we have known about the existence of galaxies for more than half a century, we are still unable to explain why they exist. However, its presence in the universe leaves much to say, and endless space elements to study.

The basis of human knowledge will always go much further, and although until this time of modernity, some scientists have made great contributions that were of the utmost importance to complement the information that has been had on the structure of the universe, even so, it will not be enough. . There are thousands of elements that astronomy has not yet been able to verify.

Magellanic Cloud seen from Earth


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