3 ms·
It's OK to call the LMC "large", because it is. But calling the SMC "small" is decidedly not. And, they're not clouds, either. This is a unique opportunity to
by angiosperm 3y ago
It's OK to call the LMC "large", because it is. But calling the SMC "small" is decidedly not. And, they're not clouds, either.
This is a unique opportunity to give these two lesser galaxies better names. The nearer one could be the "Lesser Magellanic Nebula". The far one could be the "Cryptic Magellanic Nebula". Then the LMC gets "Greater Magellanic Nebula". Andromeda may stay Andromeda, unless the San people in Botswana have a name for it that we could pronounce.
People living in the southern hemisphere for lo so many millennia knew they were there all along, before Magellan drifted past. Just "Greater Southern Nebula" etc. instead? Maybe ask the San about those too. Or the Yaghan in Tierra Del Fuego. Or Australian aboriginals. All deserve reparations.
- squigz 3y agoThis just in: the Milky Way is not comprised of milk :(
- Intralexical 3y agoThe Milky Way is the only galaxy known to contain milk. It's also the only galaxy known to contain Milky Way bars. The name definitely fits.
- bloomingeek 3y agoTHIS is why I love HN!
- occamschainsaw 3y agoThe Milky Way is also the only known galaxy to have ever contained Magellan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_Magellan
- ahonhn 3y agoDoes this suggest an extra-galactic origin for The Moon?
- PeterCorless 3y agoThe Small Magellenic Cloud was, heretofore, presumed to contain about 3 billion stars, vs. 30 billion for the Large Magellenic Cloud, and 100 billion stars for the Milky Way. The Small Magellenic Cloud was, heretofore, estimated to be about 18,900 light years in diameter. Nebula clusters are generally on the order of magnitude of a few thousand stars at most, and only hundreds of lightyears in size. However the division of the two smaller parts of the SMC works out, I believe both deserve more than simple appelation of "nebulae."
- angiosperm 3y agoThe point is that "cloud" is objectively the wrong name. As is "small".
- teamonkey 3y agoSo as a replacement for the word “cloud” you’re suggesting instead the Latin word “nebula”, meaning “cloud”
- HelloMcFly 3y agoDoesn't this level of literalism in taxonomy feel a bit sterile and unnecessary? It sure does to me.
- ben_w 3y agoIf we're going to rename it, my proposal would be "Two Small Galaxies In A Trenchcoat".