Closeup of the LMC and Its Halo (Artist's Concept)

Caption

This artist's concept shows a closeup of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a dwarf galaxy that is one of the Milky Way galaxy's nearest neighbors. Scientists think that the LMC has just completed its closest approach to the much more massive Milky Way. This encounter has blown away most of the spherical halo of gas that surrounds the LMC. The wispy, bright purple arc to the left represents the leading edge of the LMC's halo, which is being compressed as the Milky Way's halo pushes back against the incoming LMC. The pressure is stripping much of the LMC's halo and blowing it backward into a streaming tail of gas. The dwarf galaxy is cocooned within its remaining halo. An actual science image of the LMC is combined with an artist's rendering of the galaxy's halo.