麦哲伦云

天

[ noun ]
either of two small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way; visible near the south celestial pole
<noun.object>

Magellanic cloud \Mag`el*lan"ic cloud\, n. (Astron.)
Either of two conspicuous celestial nebul[ae] near the south
celestial pole, resembling thin white clouds, each of which
is a galaxy[2] smaller than but separate from the Milky Way
galaxy, and together they are the galactic formations nearest
to our galaxy. They are not visible from the northern
hemisphere, and are named after Ferdinand Magellan, who saw
them in his expedition, which passed through the Strait of
Magellan in South America, and one ship of which completed
the first circumnavigation of the globe.