Small Magellanic Cloud

noun

: a pair of small galaxies that is located 200,000 light-years away from the Milky Way and is visible within 25 degrees of the south celestial pole

Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope claimed to have found the glowing traces of the universe's first generation of stars. Roughly 5,000 baby stars were discovered in the Small Magellanic Cloud, and spectrographic imagery captured a young star fleeing a giant black hole that had already swallowed the star's twin; at its present rate of speed, the star will eventually leave the Milky Way …

—Bill Armstrong

called also Magellanic Cloud

Word History

First Known Use

1897, in the meaning defined above