NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope observes events in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring galaxy of the Milky Way. This object is located in the southern sky and is 20 times larger than the visible disk of the Moon. Scientists suggest that the Large Magellanic Cloud is not a satellite of our galaxy, but is merely passing by, which has caused it to lose part of its gas halo due to the Milky Way’s gravitational influence.
Recently, astronomers using Hubble determined the size of the halo of the Large Magellanic Cloud – about 50,000 light-years across. This is almost 10 times smaller than the halo of galaxies with similar masses, indicating the impact of the encounter with the Milky Way.
“The LMC is a survivor,” explains Andrew Fox, principal investigator. “Even though it’s lost a lot of its gas, it’s got enough left to keep forming new stars.” Its mass, 10% of the Milky Way’s mass, contributes to this, allowing it to gravitationally hold some of the halo’s remnants.
The Milky Way’s thick halo has intensified the “blowing off” of gas from the Large Magellanic Cloud, which has created a gas trail that stretches behind it, reminiscent of a comet’s tail. Researcher Sapna Mishra explains that this interaction between galaxies has allowed some of the Cloud’s halo to remain intact due to its considerable mass. Pressure from the Milky Way eventually forces the Magellanic Cloud gas to spill into our galaxy. However, scientists believe that all the halo gas will not be completely lost as the dwarf galaxy gradually recedes back into space.
The unique location of the Large Magellanic Cloud makes it an important observational target for studying galactic interactions. Observations of how the Milky Way affects a passing dwarf galaxy help us understand processes in the early Universe, when galaxies were much closer.
The team’s next step is to study the front of the halo of the Large Magellanic Cloud, where the collision with the Milky Way’s halo occurs, to further explore the processes involved in galactic collisions.
We previously reported on how the Small Magellanic Cloud consisted of two galaxies.
Provided by phys.org
