Trouble Near the Milky Way: One Galaxy Is Tearing Another Apart
Gravitational forces from nearby galaxies are reshaping the Small Magellanic Cloud over billions of cosmic years.
The Drama Is Happening Close to the Milky Way
The Large Magellanic Cloud Is the Stronger Partner
The Small Magellanic Cloud Is Losing Shape
Stars Are Moving in Opposite Directions
This Is a Gravitational Tug of War
The Milky Way Is Part of the Wider Story
The Damage Has Been Building for Billions of Years
The Findings Change an Older Picture
The Small Galaxy May Eventually Be Destroyed
The Discovery Helps Explain Galaxy Evolution
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Something dramatic is happening in the Milky Way’s neighbourhood, but it is not a sudden explosion or a collision we could watch unfold in real time. The Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, two dwarf galaxies near our own, are locked in a long gravitational struggle that is reshaping one of them from the inside.
New observations suggest the smaller galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, is being pulled apart by the stronger gravity of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Space.com reported that the latest work shows the Small Magellanic Cloud is not simply rotating neatly, as once thought, but has stars moving outward in a pattern that points to tidal disruption.