scientist have discovered that one of our neighboring extragalactic nebula , the Small Magellanic Cloud ( SMC ) , is slowly being torn apart by its fellow traveller galax .
The study , led by Paul Zivick from the University of Virginia , is useable onarXivand has been submitted to the Astrophysical Journal for publication .
Using the Hubble scope , the squad monitored the movement of wizard in theSMC , which orbits our whitish Way at a distance of about200,000 light source - years . And they found that the galaxy did n’t seem to be splay , but rather theatrical role of it were being take out by its companion – the Large Magellanic Cloud ( LMC ) .
From this , they were able to make the surprising find that the two galaxy collided about 150 million years ago . It ’s unlikely they collide head - on ( a “ bulls - center " hitting ) , but it does expect like they at least peek each other . It ’s thought their centers passed each other at a space of about 25,000 idle - years .
“ It seems extremely probable that the Clouds have hit each other , ” the squad wrote in their paper . “ The fact that the SMC is in reality an extended eubstance … strengthens this disceptation further . ”
But looking to the future , the SMC is set for some rather turbulent time . Gurtina Besla from the University of Arizona in Tucson , one of the study ’s co - author , toldNew Scientistthat the galaxy would all alter its character as it is losing both asterisk and gas .
“ Right now it ’s an unpredictable galaxy , full of gasoline that ’s spawn the bright new stars that pose it aglow , ” New Scientist noted . “ But [ Besla ] says the beetleweed will lose its gas and eventually become a dwarf elliptical beetleweed , a duller type that gives nativity to no stars at all . ”
The SMC is expected to survive , thanks to dark issue hold it together . Future information , from ESA’sGaia spacecraftfor example , could also secernate us more about the centre of attention of the SMC itself ; we ’re still not exactly sure where it is .
And the team trust their research can say us a bit more about how star organization is occurring in the two Clouds , as well as tell us if they ’ve orbited our own whitish Way once or doubly . It give us a neat flavour , too , at the effects one galaxy can have on another , even quite a while after a collision .
[ H / T : New Scientist ]
