Neighbor galaxy caught stealing starts

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). In this image, the LMC is shown as it appears in observations by the Spitzer Space Telescope at 3.6, 8.0, and 24 microns. Overlaid in red and blue, with colors representing the line of sight velocities (red = away, blue = towards) are the locations of 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. Spitzer