Expanded Glossary and Notes - Compendium to the Sequetus Series Page 6

CHAPTER 6

  NOTES: THE LOCAL GROUP

  The Local Group of galaxies, refers to the three major spiral galaxies of the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxy, the Triangulum Galaxy, and the forty or so smaller dwarf and barrel galaxies that are attached to these three spiral galaxies. These galaxies all impact on each other with gravity.

  The Small Magellanic Cloud: This is a dwarf galaxy, meaning it is small and not spiralling like the Milky Way. It was used by small vessels in the South Pacific to navigate by, and is quite visible to the naked eye at night. It is irregular is shape, perhaps being interfered with by either the Milky Way or its partner Large Magellanic Cloud. The Small Megallanic Cloud Galaxy is 200,000 light years away, and has a diameter of 7,000 light years. It has several hundred million stars and about 7 billion times more mass than the Sun. It can only be viewed from the Southern Hemisphere due to its inclination. It is one of the Milky Way’s nearest neighbours.