Large Magellanic Cloud

The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is a nearby galaxy, and a satellite of the Milky Way. At a distance of 50 kiloparsecs (≈163,000 light-years), the LMC is the third closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal (~ 16 kiloparsecs) and the putative Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy (~ 12.9 kiloparsecs, though its status as a galaxy is under dispute) lying closer to the center of the Milky Way. The LMC has a diameter of about 14,000 light-years (~ 4.3 kpc) and a mass of approximately 10 billion Sun masses (10¹⁰solar masses), making it roughly 1/100 as massive as the Milky Way. The LMC is the fourth largest galaxy in the Local Group, after the Andromeda Galaxy (M31), the Milky Way, and the Triangulum Galaxy (M33).

In the past, the LMC was often considered an irregular type galaxy. However, it is now recognized as a disrupted barred spiral galaxy. The NASA Extragalactic Database, however, still lists the Hubble sequence type as Irr/SB(s)m). In reality, the LMC contains a very prominent bar in its center, suggesting that it may have previously been a standard barred spiral galaxy before being disrupted, likely by the gravitational tug of the Milky Way, resulting in the disruption of its spiral arms. The LMC's present irregular appearance is likely the result of tidal interactions with both the Milky Way and the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC).

Magellanic Clouds

The two Magellanic Clouds (or Nubeculae Magellani) are a duo of irregular dwarf galaxies visible from the southern hemisphere, which are members of the Local Group and are orbiting the Milky Way galaxy. Because they both show signs of a bar structure, they are often reclassified as Magellanic spiral galaxies. The two galaxies are:

History

The Magellanic Clouds were known to the Polynesians and served as important navigation markers. Collectively they were known to Māori of New Zealand as Nga Patari-Kaihau or as Te Reporepo and were also used as predictors of winds.

The Magellanic Clouds have been known since the first millennium in Western Asia. The first preserved mention of the Large Magellanic Cloud is by the Persian astronomer Al Sufi. In 964, in his Book of Fixed Stars, he called it al-Bakr ("the Sheep") "of the southern Arabs"; he noted that the Cloud is not visible from northern Arabia and Baghdad, but can be seen at the strait of Bab el Mandeb (12°15' N), which is the southernmost point of Arabia.

Trousers

Trousers (pants in North America) are an item of clothing worn from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately (rather than with cloth extending across both legs as in robes, skirts, and dresses).

In the UK the word "pants" generally means underwear and not trousers.Shorts are similar to trousers, but with legs that come down only to around the area of the knee, higher or lower depending on the style of the garment. To distinguish them from shorts, trousers may be called "long trousers" in certain contexts such as school uniform, where tailored shorts may be called "short trousers", especially in the UK.

In most of the Western world, trousers have been worn since ancient times and throughout the Medieval period, becoming the most common form of lower-body clothing for adult males in the modern world, although shorts are also widely worn, and kilts and other garments may be worn in various regions and cultures. Breeches were worn instead of trousers in early modern Europe by some men in higher classes of society. Since the mid-20th century, trousers have increasingly been worn by women as well. Jeans, made of denim, are a form of trousers for casual wear, now widely worn all over the world by both sexes. Shorts are often preferred in hot weather or for some sports and also often by children and teenagers. Trousers are worn on the hips or waist and may be held up by their own fastenings, a belt or suspenders (braces). Leggings are form-fitting trousers, of a clingy material, often knitted cotton and spandex (elastane).