Magellanic Clouds - the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud are the satellite galaxies of the Milky Way . They are located at a distance of 160 thousand light years from the Milky Way. Both Clouds were previously considered irregular galaxies, but subsequently discovered the structural features of spiral galaxies with a jumper . They are located relatively close to each other and form a gravitationally bound (double) system. Visible to the naked eye in the southern hemisphere. Both Clouds "float" in a common hydrogen shell.
The Magellanic Clouds are located at high galactic latitudes, so the light from them is little absorbed by the Milky Way, in addition, the plane of the Big Magellanic Cloud is almost perpendicular to the line of sight, so it will often be true to say that they are spatially close to objects that are visible nearby. These features of the Magellanic Clouds allowed us to study the patterns of distribution of stars and star clusters using their example [1] .
The Magellanic Clouds have a number of features that distinguish them from the Milky Way. For example, star clusters with an age of 10 7-10 8 years were discovered there, while the Milky Way clusters are usually older than 10 9 years. Also, apparently, the Magellanic Clouds have a lower content of heavy elements [1] .
Name Origin
The Magellanic clouds were familiar to the sailors of the southern hemisphere, and in the 15th century they were called "Cape Clouds." Fernand Magellan used them for navigation , as an alternative to the North Star , during his trip around the world in 1519-1521 . When his ship returned to Europe after the death of Magellan, Antonio Pigafetta (Magellan’s companion and official travel chronicler) proposed to name the Cape Clouds the Clouds of Magellan as a kind of perpetuation of his memory [2] .
Evolution
Some BMO stars were originally located in IMO and were captured by gravitational forces. According to one model, after 4 billion years, the Milky Way will “swallow” the Big and Small Magellanic Clouds, and after 5 billion years it will itself be absorbed by the Andromeda Nebula . [3]
In connection with the latter, the mass of the Milky Way is comparable with the mass of the Andromeda Nebula (1.5 × 10 12 M ☉ versus 0.8 ± 0.1 × 10 12 M ☉ ) [1] , therefore a collision rather than absorption is more likely.
See also
- Big Magellanic Cloud
- Small Magellanic Cloud
- Magellanic Stream
- Magellan's Bridge
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Magellanic Clouds / Yu. N. Efremov // Space Physics: A Little Encyclopedia / Editorial: R. A. Sunyaev (Ch. Ed.) And others - 2nd ed. - M .: Soviet Encyclopedia , 1986. - S. 357-360. - 70,000 copies.
- ↑ P. Hodge. Galaxies / Ed. Yu. N. Efremova . - M: Nauka, 1992 .-- 192 p.
- ↑ Lenta.ru: Science and technology: Space: Astrophysicists again predicted the death of the Milky Way