Magellanic cloud

noun

Astronomy.

1. either of two irregular galactic clusters in the southern heavens that are the nearest independent star system to the Milky Way.

Magellanic Cloud

/ ˌmæɡɪˈlænɪk /

noun

1. either of two small irregular galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud (Nubecula Major) and the Small Magellanic Cloud (Nubecula Minor), lying near the S celestial pole; they are probably satellites of the Galaxy. Distances: 163 000 light years (Large), 196 000 light years (Small)

Word History and Origins

Origin of Magellanic Cloud¹

First recorded in 1675–85

Example Sentences

Yet recent images captured by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope seem to contradict that notion by showing protoplanetary disks in a dwarf galaxy adjacent to our own Milky Way, the Small Magellanic Cloud.

From Salon

The last nearby supernova was in 1987 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the Milky Way's satellites.

From Science Daily

The newly imaged star, WOH G64, lies within the Large Magellanic Cloud, one of the small galaxies that orbits the Milky Way.

From Science Daily

For this study, Chiti and his colleagues aimed their telescopes at an unusual target: the stars that make up the Large Magellanic Cloud.

From Science Daily

However, in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy 160 000 light-years away, the material from which new stars are being born is fundamentally different from that in the Milky Way.

From Science Daily