OVER THE
NEIGHBORHOOD
By: Mark Vincent Cabacungan
The entirety of the universe seems
to be boundless. From north to
south, and even through west and
east, the universe is so wide－that
we cannot see what lies beside or
even ahead of us.
Yet, according to studies, the
universe is composed of different
types of smaller galaxies. The term
“galaxy” is defined as vast cosmic
island of stars, gas, dust, and dark
matter which were held together
by the gravitational force. Among
the galaxies in the universe is the
Magellanic Cloud Galaxy.
Magellanic Cloud Galaxy is either
the two companion galaxies of our
very own, Milky Way －the Large
and Small Magellanic Cloud. The
companion galaxies were named
after the famous navigator himself,
Ferdinand Magellan. His crew
were the first to discovery these
blob of light during their first
voyage around the world. It was
only during the 20th century, when
the American astronomer, Edwin
Hubble, established galaxy nature
as extragalactic that these two
galaxies were recognized not part
of the Milky Way (Hodge, 2021).
Magellanic Clouds are irregularly
shaped galaxies that share a gas
envelope and lie about 22º apart in
the sky, near the south celestial
pole (Ramsey&Burckley, 1996).
In detail, Large Magellanic Cloud
is a disrupted barred spiral galaxy
with a diameter of 14,000 light
years. It has a mass of 10 billion
solar masses and composed of 30
billion stars. It is situated about
49.97 kpc (163,000 light years)
away from us. Usually, this galaxy
is evident in the constellations
Dorado and Mensa (Science Facts,
2019).
Meanwhile, the Small Magellanic
Cloud is typically a dwarf galaxy
with a diameter of which about
7,000 light years. Less mass, this
Small Magellanic has a mass of
6.5 billion solar masses and houses
a total of 3 billion stars. It has a
distance of 61.7 kpc (201,000 light
years) away from us. This galaxy
can be recognized on Tucana and
Hydrus constellations (Science
Facts, 2019).
Magellanic Clouds are gas-rich,
meaning, they are composed of
gases, chiefly. It is also said that
their irregular and distorted shape
was due to their gravitational
interaction with the Milky Way
galaxy. In addition, astronomers
believe that partly, these two
galaxies are orbiting our galaxy
travelling at a faster rate (Science
Facts, 2019).
ASTRONOMICAL FACTS