Greater Magellanic Cloud

Large Magellanic Cloud (NGC1910)

The Greater Magellanic Cloud (also known as the Large Magellanic Cloud or LMC) is a satellite galaxy of Galaxias categorized as galactic type Irr/SB(s)m.

Description (Specifications)

The Large Magellanic Cloud lies 50kpc from Galaxias, making it the fourth closest "sizeable" galaxy to Galaxias, after the Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (~ 7.5kpc), the Virgo Stellar Stream (~ 9.2kpc), and the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy (~ 20.0kpc). The Large Magellanic Cloud has a diameter of about 4.3kpc and is the fourth-largest galaxy in the Local Group, after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), Galaxias, and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).

The Large Magellanic Cloud is an example of a disrupted barred spiral galaxy (containing a very prominent bar in its center and a partial spiral arm), which suggests that it may have been a barred dwarf spiral galaxy before its spiral arms were disrupted, likely by Galaxias's gravity. Its present irregular shape is likely the result of tidal interactions with both Galaxias and the Small Magellanic Cloud.

Like many irregular galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud is rich in gas and dust, and it is currently undergoing vigorous star formation activity. It is home to the Tarantula Nebula, the most active star-forming region in the entire Local Group. Surveys of the galaxy have found roughly 60 globular clusters, 700 open clusters, and hundreds of thousands of giant and supergiant stars.

The Large Magellanic Cloud lies approximately 50kpc from Terra, and is located in a Trailing direction from Terra at bearing 280.47^o Galactic Longitude and -32.9^o South Galactic Latitude.

History & Background (Dossier)

Almost all of the sophont societies of Charted Space have recorded observations of the Greater Magellanic Cloud.

• The Terrans have observations of this astrographic feature going back thousands of years.
• The early Vilani mystics found this astrographic feature very important for spiritual reasons.

Life in the Greater Magellanic Cloud

It is believed that a number of lifeforms have originated here including sophonts:

1. Akhrini
2. Efrip
3. Jneril
4. Mwoah

References & Contributors (Sources)

This page uses content from Wikipedia. The original article was at Large_Magellanic_Cloud. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. The text of Wikipedia is available under the Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Author & Contributor: WHULorigan