The Fate of the Magellanic Clouds
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, about 150,000 light years from the center of our galaxy, have orbited our Milky Way galaxy about 10 times so far. They are slowly losing orbital energy and come closer to the Milky Way after each orbit.
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The Magellanic Stream. In the last pass, they got close enough to start losing their gas, creating the Magellanic Stream. Future passes will reduce the orbital energy of The Clouds enough that they will merge with the Milky Way. We are in the process of cannibalizing the Magellanic Clouds! |