dwarf galaxies hanging out near bigger galaxies, in orbit around them like satellites. The two Magellanic Clouds are part of the Milky Way’s dwarf family. But the lives of satellite galaxies can be quite hazardous. Most computer models of their orbits show a slow decay that ultimately results in the hapless dwarfs getting ripped apart, and then eaten, by the main galaxy. The Milky Way engaged in at least one act of cannibalism in the last billion years, when it consumed a dwarf galaxy whose flayed remains can be seen as a stream of stars orbiting the galactic center, beyond the stars of the constellation Sagittarius. The system is called the Sagittarius Dwarf, but should probably have been named Lunch.

dwarf galaxies hanging out near bigger galaxies,
in orbit around them like satellites. The two Magellanic Clouds are part of the
Milky Way’s dwarf family. But the lives of satellite galaxies can be quite
hazardous. Most computer models of their orbits show a slow decay that
ultimately results in the hapless dwarfs getting ripped apart, and then eaten, by the
main galaxy. The Milky Way engaged in at least one act of cannibalism in the last
billion years, when it consumed a dwarf galaxy whose flayed remains can be seen
as a stream of stars orbiting the galactic center, beyond the stars of the
constellation Sagittarius. The system is called the Sagittarius Dwarf, but should
probably have been named Lunch.