Names have significance, especially when they’re written in the stars.
A group of astronomers is coalescing around an idea to rename two neighbors of the Milky Way, the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds.
Named after explorer Ferdinand Magellan, the satellite galaxies are visible with the naked eye from the Southern Hemisphere. But Magellan’s name is not fitting, astronomer Mia de los Reyes and colleagues argue. The leader of the first expedition to successfully circle the globe, Magellan enslaved and killed Indigenous people encountered on the voyage, which set out from Spain in 1519 (SN: 9/17/19).
.email-conversion { border: 1px solid #ffcccb; color: white; margin-top: 50px; background-image: url(“/wp-content/themes/sciencenews/client/src/images/[email protected]”);
→ Continue reading at Science News