If you are in the Southern Hemisphere , you may see theSmall Magellanic Cloud(SMC ) with your naked center . It ’s a gnome galaxy satellite of the Milky Way looking blurry in the sky . What you would n’t know from look at it , is that it ’s being torn apart by another planet , also visible to the nude eye , the Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) .
In late years , astronomers have been capable to study the motility of the superstar in the galaxy with salient preciseness . And there ’s certainly something odd going on with the SMC . A dissimilar mathematical group suggested that it might betwo galaxiesinstead of one , but this work argue that it is one galaxy in the summons of becoming two .
“ When we first obtain this resultant role , we suspected that there might be an mistake in our method of analysis , ” co - lead author Kengo Tachihara , from Nagoya University , aver in astatement . “ However , upon closer examination , the result are indisputable , and we were surprised . ”
The team face at 7,000 massive wizard in the galaxy . These are untried stars that will only live for a few million years before going supernova . The squad tracked their move and that indicated that the galaxy was being torn .
“ The stars in the SMC were move in opposite directions on either side of the galaxy , as though they are being pulled apart , ” Tachihara aver . “ Some of these whiz are approaching the LMC , while others are moving away from it , suggest the gravitational influence of the heavy galaxy . This unexpected movement sustain the guess that the SMC is being disrupt by the LMC , leading to its gradual demolition . ”
The observations also evoke something else about the SMC . Galaxies tend to have a rotational motion . monumental adept are enceinte for track that as they are young and often still influence and are influenced by the interstellar gas they form from . The team found that there is no rotational motion in the wiz , so the SMC is likely not rotating .
“ If the SMC is indeed not rotate , previous estimates of its mickle and its interaction history with the Milky Way and LMC might necessitate to be revised , ” co - lead author Satoya Nakano summate . “ This could potentially change our reason of the history of the three - body fundamental interaction between the two Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way . ”
Even though the SMC and LMC have been known since the birth of Humanity , there ’s distinctly a mint more to know about them . Astronomers have called on the international community torename the Magellanic Cloudsgiven the colonial atrociousness perpetrated by Magellan .
A paper on this workplace is available inThe Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series .
