Editing Small Magellanic Cloud (section)

== Features ==
[[File:VISTA’s view of the Small Magellanic Cloud.jpg|thumb|[[VISTA (telescope)|VISTA]]'s view of the Small Magellanic Cloud. [[47 Tucanae]] (NGC 104) is visible to the right of the Small Magellanic Cloud.|alt=]]

The SMC contains a central bar structure, and astronomers speculate that it was once a [[barred spiral galaxy]] that was disrupted by the Milky Way to become [[Barred irregular galaxy|somewhat irregular]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu//cosmic_classroom/multiwavelength_astronomy/multiwavelength_museum/smc.html |title=Small Magellanic Cloud |publisher=NASA/[[Infrared Processing and Analysis Center|IPAC]] |access-date=2008-07-07 |archive-date=2015-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151107043237/http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/multiwavelength_astronomy/multiwavelength_museum/smc.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>

There is a [[Magellanic Bridge|bridge of gas]] connecting the Small Magellanic Cloud with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), which is evidence of tidal interaction between the galaxies.<ref name=Mathewson>{{cite journal |title=Structure and Evolution of the Magellanic Clouds |author=Mathewson DS |author2= Ford VL |journal=IAU Symposium |date=1984 |volume=108 |pages=125 }}</ref> This bridge of gas is a star-forming site.<ref name=Heydari>{{cite journal |doi=10.1051/0004-6361:20031360 |author=Heydari-Malayeri M |display-authors=4 |author2=Meynadier F |author3=Charmandaris V |author4=Deharveng L |author5=Le Bertre T |author6= Rosa MR |author7=Schaerer D |title=The stellar environment of SMC N81|date=2003 |journal=Astron. Astrophys. |volume=411 |issue=3 |pages=427–436 |bibcode=2003A&A...411..427H|arxiv = astro-ph/0309126 |s2cid=8240730 }}</ref>
The Magellanic Clouds have a common envelope of neutral hydrogen, indicating they have been gravitationally bound for a long time. 

In 2017, using the [[Dark Energy Survey]] plus MagLiteS data, a stellar over-density associated with the Small Magellanic Cloud was discovered, which is probably the result of interactions between the SMC and LMC.<ref name=Pieres>{{cite journal |author=Adriano Pieres |display-authors=etal |date=2017 |title=A stellar over-density associated with the Small Magellanic Cloud|journal=Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |volume=468 |issue=2 |pages=1349–1360 |arxiv=1612.03938|doi=10.1093/mnras/stx507 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2017MNRAS.468.1349P }}</ref>

[[File:Head in the Clouds (potw2249a).tiff|thumb|right|Open cluster [[NGC 376]] in the Small Magellanic Cloud, imaged by the [[Hubble Space Telescope]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://esahubble.org/images/potw2249a/|title=Head in the Clouds |access-date=2023-08-24}}</ref>]]