The Large Magellanic Cloud could collide with the Milky Way much sooner than expected, helping to form new stars in our galaxy
Our galaxy she is not aloneOn the contrary. Around the Milky Way there are several other smaller galaxies, two of which are named Small and Large Magellanic Cloud. They are both visible from the southern hemisphere. During their billion-year “dance” around the Milky Way, gravity literally tore from each of them what scientists call Magellanic Current. It is a flow of gas and stellar dust that in a certain sense tells of the nearest galaxies.
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A flow 5 times closer than we thought
New astronomical models developed by scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Space Telescope Science Institute have recreated the birth of the Magellanic Current by covering an arc. By studying the data, researchers discovered that it could be 5 times closer to Earth than previously thought previously.
Research findings suggest that such flow may occur much sooner than expected. This mechanism will contribute in our galaxy. It’s about one of the greatest mysteries of the last 50 years. The new astronomical models precisely show galaxies torn from their galaxies and “incorporated” by this Current. In practice while dwarf galaxies were absorbed by the Milky Waythe Small Magellanic Cloud orbited the Large Cloud in the opposite direction than previously thought. This orbit pulled the flow. It is very likely that the collision with our galaxy is only 20 kiloparsecs from Earth, equivalent to approximately .
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