A pair of sibling dwarf galaxies is having a gravitationally charged squabble in our cosmic backyard, and it will likely end with one ripping the other in half, a new study suggests. The surprising revelation reminds us that you never know your neighbors quite as well as you think, even in space.
The mini galaxies, known as the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) and the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), are satellites of the Milky Way that closely circle our galaxy like a moon orbits a planet. The LMC is the closest of the two, at around 160,000 light-years from Earth, while the SMC sits slightly farther away, behind the LMC, around 200,000 light-years from us. Both are clearly visible from the Southern Hemisphere.
