Wednesday, June 3, 2026

A New Map of Stars Shows That the Small Magellanic Cloud is Expanding

The arrows in this image show the proper motions of millions of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies. Stars are moving away from the dwarf galaxy's center, a clear sign that it's expanding. The culprit is its more massive neighbour and fellow satellite galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. Image Credit: ESO/VISTA VMC/ AIP/ S. Vijayasree

A multi-year survey of millions of stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud shows that the dwarf galaxy is expanding rather than rotating. This is due to the influence of its larger neighbour, the Large Magellanic Cloud.



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