Galaxy-hopping stars detected in the Large Magellanic Cloud

The Milky Way’s near neighbor, the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), has accreted a smattering of stars from its smaller neighbor, the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). This image shows the LMC imaged by the Spitzer Space Telescope. Overlaid in red and blue, with the colors representing their line-of-sight velocities, are the stars whose origin has been traced to the SMC. These stars were discovered by a team led by NOAO astronomer Knut Olsen, through analysis of spectra obtained at the CTIO 4-m Blanco telescope.