The Small Magellanic Cloud seems to be coming undone at the gravitational hands of its sibling galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud, which has been found to be unwrapping its little brother's stars.
The Small and Large Magellanic Clouds (SMC and LMC for short) are two dwarf irregular galaxies passing close to the Milky Way. The LMC is about 163,000 light years away from us, while the SMC is further away at about 200,000 light-years from us. Both are subject to disruption from the Milky Way's gravity, which triggers bursts of star formation within them and rips away a stream of gas from both, called the Magellanic Stream.
