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Magellanic Bridge
Interstellar cloud
H I region
	Stars being pulled from the SMC, heading towards the LMC, as seen by Gaia.
Observation data: J2000.0 epoch
Right ascension	03h 11m
Declination	−73.5°
	See also: Lists of nebulae

The Magellanic Bridge (MBR)^[1] is a stream of neutral Hydrogen (HI) that links the two Magellanic Clouds,^[2] with a few known stars inside it.^[3]^[4] It should not be confused with the Magellanic Stream, which links the Magellanic Clouds to the Milky Way. It was discovered in 1963 by J. V. Hindman et al.^[5]

There is a continuous stream of stars throughout the Bridge linking the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) with the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). This stellar bridge is of greater concentration in the western part, representing bright young stars that don't travel very far in their short lifetimes, born from primordial-like gas in Star Formation Regions that have been pulled and become unbound ("tidally stripped")^[6] from the weaker gravitational field of the SMC. There are two major density clumps, one near the SMC, the other midway between the galaxies, referred to as the OGLE Island.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b SpaceDaily, "Polish astronomers spot young Stellar Bridge in the Magellanic Clouds", 28 November 2014
^ Putman, M. E. (2013). "The Magellanic System's Interactive Formations". Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. 17 (1): 1–5. Bibcode:2000PASA...17....1P. doi:10.1071/AS00001.
^ Lehner, N. (2001). "FUSE Observations of the Magellanic Bridge". Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society. 33: 1408. Bibcode:2001AAS...199.6506L.
^ Lehner, N. (2002). "Far-Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Observations of the Magellanic Bridge Gas toward Two Early-Type Stars: Molecules, Physical Conditions, and Relative Abundances". The Astrophysical Journal. 578 (1): 126–143. arXiv:astro-ph/0206250. Bibcode:2002ApJ...578..126L. doi:10.1086/342349. S2CID 118633204.
^ Harris, Jason (2007). "The Magellanic Bridge: The Nearest Purely Tidal Stellar Population". The Astrophysical Journal. 658 (1): 345–357. arXiv:astro-ph/0612107. Bibcode:2007ApJ...658..345H. doi:10.1086/511816. S2CID 12948593.
^ Ramachandran, Varsha; Oskinova, L. M.; Hamann, W.-R. (2021). "Discovery of O stars in the tidal Magellanic Bridge". Astronomy & Astrophysics. 646: A16. arXiv:2011.08006. Bibcode:2021A&A...646A..16R. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202039486.