Scientists have mapped the motions of stars within the Milky Way's companion galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), revealing new clues about barred galaxies. The findings could offer new insight into the processes that shape and form the structures of these galaxies, which contain bar-like bands of stars. Located about 163,000 light-years from Earth, the LMC - a satellite dwarf galaxy of the Milky Way - is among the closest galaxies to Earth and is visible to the naked eye as a faint cloud in the Southern Hemisphere sky. The LMC is considered an irregular galaxy given its single spiral arm and stellar bar structure, which is offset from the galaxy's centre.
This story is from the Issue 130 edition of All About Space.
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This story is from the Issue 130 edition of All About Space.
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