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

Labeled "artist’s concept" at bottom right, the graphic shows a closeup of a dwarf galaxy, which appears roughly circular with a light yellow bar in the center. Faint, blue, wispy, cloud-like features surround this yellow bar, and they are sprinkled with tiny white specks. A wide, wispy, purple arc appears to the left of the galaxy. Trailing the galaxy is a large, faint, wide, tail-like feature.

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.

  • Release Date
    November 14, 2024
  • Science Release
    NASA’s Hubble Sees Aftermath of Galaxy’s Scrape with Milky Way
    Read the release
  • Credits
    NASA, ESA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

Downloads

  • LMC Closeup - Full Res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (Print), 3840 × 2160
    tif (8.07 MB)
  • LMC Closeup - Full Res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (Display), 3840 × 2160
    (6.97 MB)
  • LMC Closeup - Half Res "Artist's Concept" watermarked (Display), 1920 × 1080
    (1.35 MB)
  • LMC Closeup - Full Res (Print), 3840 × 2160
    tif (8.06 MB)
  • LMC Closeup - Full Res (Display), 3840 × 2160
    png (6.96 MB)
  • LMC Closeup - Half Res (Display), 1920 × 1080
    png (1.67 MB)

Related Images & Videos

A whitish, whirlpool-like galaxy at middle of top edge, and a tadpole-shaped structure sweeps from left to right across lower half. A label pointing to outer, left of galaxy reads “Earth.” Faint, purple haze labeled “Milky Way Halo” surrounds galaxy and stretches to graphic’s edges. The tadpole-shaped object is the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC, with its own halo and streaming tail. Semi-circular, progressively darker layers of purple labeled “LMC Halo” surround the LMC, which appears roughly circular, with a central, light yellow bar. Cloud-like features sprinkled with white specks surround this bar. Trailing the LMC is a large, tail-like feature labeled “Stream.” At the bottom left corner of graphic are several small, bright points of light labeled “Quasars.” Three light blue lines point from the label “Earth” through the LMC’s halo, and to three corresponding quasars. At the bottom, right corner is the label “Artist’s Concept.”

LMC Passing through Milky Way Halo (Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept shows the Large Magellanic Cloud, or LMC, in the foreground as it passes through the gaseous halo of the much more massive Milky Way galaxy. The encounter has blown away most of the spherical halo of gas that surrounds the LMC, as illustrated by the...

A 3-panel graphic labeled “artist’s concept” at bottom, right corner. Each of the three panels shows the same whitish, whirlpool-like spiral galaxy at middle of top edge. A faint, purple haze surrounds galaxy and stretches to panel’s edges. At the middle of the right side of the first panel, a white dot surrounded by fuzzy, lighter purple halo approaches. In middle panel, a pronounced, light purple bow shock develops to left part of the halo. The right part of halo is being stripped and blown back into a streaming tail of gas. The bottom panel shows the tail becoming longer and more defined as the now tadpole-like object curves below the spiral galaxy and sweeps toward the upper left.

LMC Passing through Milky Way Halo (3-Panel Artist's Concept)

This artist's concept illustrates the Large Magellanic Cloud's (LMC's) encounter with the Milky Way galaxy's gaseous halo. In the top panel, at the middle of the right side, the LMC begins crashing through our galaxy's much more massive halo. The bright purple bow shock...

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Details

Last Updated
Mar 06, 2025
Contact
Media

Claire Andreoli
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
claire.andreoli@nasa.gov

Artwork Credit

NASA, ESA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

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