What are the Magellanic clouds?


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Date: Thu, 7 Oct 1999 09:48:04 -0700 (PDT)
From: "Kurtis A. Williams"

On Wed, 6 Oct 1999, Juan wrote:

> Could you tell me what are the Magellanic clouds?? Are they the companion
> galaxies to the Milky Way????

The Magellanic Clouds are indeed companion (or satellite) galaxies to the
Milky Way. The Milky way is a farly large galaxy and has several smaller
galaxies that orbit around it. The two Magellenic Clouds are the largest
of these. The Magellenic Clouds got their name from the explorer
Ferdinand Magellan, who was the first European to see these clouds during
his around-the-world expedition. Of course, the peoples of the southern
hemisphere had known about these objects for a long time prior to
Magellan's trip, but an object is always named after the last person to
discover it!

> Also do you have newsletter that I can subscribe to them???

No, we don't have a newsletter, although that would be a good idea.
Unfortunately, we don't have the time to put one together!

> Also I check out your site, and you guys have done an excellent job. I am
> using it to answer most of my questions.

Thank you! We are always happy to hear that our site is useful and
informative for people.

Thanks for writing!

Sincerely,
Kurtis Williams


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