Hubble finds source of Magellanic Stream: Astronomers explore origin of gas ribbon wrapped around our galaxy
Thursday, August 8, 2013 - 12:00
in Astronomy & Space
Astronomers have solved a 40-year mystery on the origin of the Magellanic Stream, a long ribbon of gas stretching nearly halfway around our Milky Way galaxy. New Hubble observations reveal that most of this stream was stripped from the Small Magellanic Cloud some 2 billion years ago, with a smaller portion originating more recently from its larger neighbor.