Magellanic

Magellanic is an adjective derived from the surname of the 16th‑century explorer Ferdinand Magellan. It is used to describe things related to Magellan, his voyages, or places named in his honor. The term appears in geography, astronomy, and biology, among other fields.

In geography and historical context, Magellanic is most commonly encountered in references to the Strait of Magellan, the navigable passage at the southern tip of South America named after Magellan. The name is also attached to regions and features named after Magellan in the southern hemisphere, though the strait itself predates the voyage.

In astronomy, Magellanic refers to the Large Magellanic Cloud and the Small Magellanic Cloud, two irregular dwarf galaxies that are satellites of the Milky Way. Both lie in the southern sky and are visible without instruments from southern latitudes. The Large Magellanic Cloud is the larger of the two, about 163,000 light-years away, and contains the 30 Doradus star-forming region, home to the Tarantula Nebula, and a barred-spiral structure. The Small Magellanic Cloud is more distant at about 199,000 light-years and has an irregular morphology with active star formation as well.

The Magellanic Stream is a long, stretched ribbon of gas trailing behind the Magellanic Clouds, extending across a substantial portion of the sky and believed to have been drawn out by tidal interactions with the Milky Way and the Clouds.

In biology, the Magellanic penguin (Spheniscus magellanicus) is a medium-sized penguin native to the coasts of southern South America and the Falkland Islands. It breeds in colonies along coastlines and is a top predator in its ecosystem.