Two largest galaxies of Milky Way connected by bridge of stars: Scientists

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New Delhi: Scientists have discovered two largest galaxies of the Milky Way which they claim is connected by a bridge of stars.

Known as the Magellanic Clouds - appear to be connected by a bridge stretching across 43,000 light years, claim scientists.

Researchers from the University of Cambridge in the UK concentrated on the area around the Magellanic Clouds and picked out pulsating stars of a particular type: the RR Lyrae, very old and chemically un-evolved.

As these stars have been around since the earliest days of the Clouds' existence, they offer an insight into the pair's history.

Studying the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC respectively) has always been difficult as they sprawl out over a large area.

Around the Milky Way, the clouds are the brightest, and largest, examples of dwarf satellite galaxies.

Known to humanity since the dawn of history the Magellanic Clouds have remained an enigma to date. Even though the clouds have been a constant fixture of the heavens, astronomers have only recently had the chance to study them in any detail.

Whether the clouds fit the conventional theory of galaxy formation or not depends critically on their mass and the time of their first approach to the Milky Way.

(With PTI inputs)