384. Situation and General Appearance of the Magellanic Clouds.—The Magellanic clouds are two nebulous-looking bodies near the southern pole of the heavens, as shown in the right-hand portion of Fig. 452. In the appearance and brightness of their light they resemble portions of the Milky-Way.
Fig. 453.
The larger of these clouds is called the Nubecula Major. It is visible to the naked eye in strong moonlight, and covers a space about two hundred times the surface of the moon. It is shown in Fig. 453. The smaller cloud is called the Nubecula Minor. It has only about a fourth the extent of the larger cloud, and is considerably less brilliant. It is visible to the naked eye, but it disappears in full moonlight. This cloud is shown in Fig. 454. The region around this cloud is singularly bare of stars; but the magnificent cluster of Toucan, already described (346), is near, and is shown a little to the right of the cloud in the figure.
Fig. 454.
Fig. 455.
385. Structure of the Nubeculæ.—Fig. 455 shows the structure of these clouds as revealed by a powerful telescope. The general ground of both consists of large tracts and patches of nebulosity in every stage of resolution,—from that which is irresolvable with eighteen inches of reflecting aperture, up to perfectly separated stars, like the Milky-Way and clustering groups. There are also nebulæ in abundance, both regular and irregular, globular clusters in every state of condensation, and objects of a nebulous character quite peculiar, and unlike any thing in other regions of the heavens. In the area occupied by the nubecula major two hundred and seventy-eight nebulæ and clusters have been enumerated, besides fifty or sixty outliers, which ought certainly to be reckoned as its appendages, being about six and a half per square degree; which very far exceeds the average of any other part of the nebulous heavens. In the nubecula minor the concentration of such objects is less, though still very striking. The nubeculæ, then, combine, each within its own area, characters which in the rest of the heavens are no less strikingly separated; namely, those of the galactic and the nebular system. Globular clusters (except in one region of small extent) and nebulæ of regular elliptic forms are comparatively rare in the Milky-Way, and are found congregated in the greatest abundance in a part of the heavens the most remote possible from that circle; whereas in the nubeculæ they are indiscriminately mixed with the general starry ground, and with irregular though small nebulæ.