"Cosmic dandruff" media release

Please click on the images for larger versions.

Magellenic stream - GIF

GIF [38 KB]

Magellenic stream - JPEG

JPEG [50 KB]

Magellenic stream - TIFF

JPEG [349 KB]

The Magellanic Clouds and the Magellanic Stream
Gas torn from two neighbouring galaxies

The Large and Small Magellanic Cloud are small galaxies orbiting our own Galaxy. This image, made with CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope, shows the two galaxies (the Large cloud is on the left). Behind them streams a trail of hydrogen gas – the Magellanic Stream.

Credit: M.E. Putman (University of Colorado), L. Staveley-Smith (CSIRO), K.C. Freeman (Australian National University), B.K. Gibson (Swinburne University) and David G. Barnes (Swinburne University).

(These three pictures show the same thing, but use different colour maps)

 Simulation - with labels

JPEG with labels [28 KB]

Simulation - without labels

JPEG without labels [22 KB]

Simulation of the Gas Clouds

A simulation of the gas in, and streaming from, the Magellanic Clouds – satellite galaxies of the Milky Way. When seen with a radio telescope on Earth, the long tidal streams of gas stretch from horizon to horizon.

Simulation by Daisuke Kawata, Chris Fluke, Sarah Maddison and Brad Gibson, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. The simulation uses 56,000 gas, stellar, and dark matter particles to represent the Magellanic System.