Magellanic spiral galaxies are (usually)

dwarf galaxies A dwarf galaxy is a small galaxy composed of about 1000 up to several billion stars, as compared to the Milky Way's 200–400 billion stars. The Large Magellanic Cloud, which closely orbits the Milky Way and contains over 30 billion stars, is s ...

which are classified as the type Sm (and SAm, SBm, SABm). They are

galaxies A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

with one single

spiral arm Spiral galaxies form a class of galaxy originally described by Edwin Hubble in his 1936 work ''The Realm of the Nebulae''Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

, an SBm galaxy. They can be considered to be intermediate between

dwarf spiral galaxies A dwarf spiral galaxy is the dwarf version of a spiral galaxy. Dwarf galaxies are characterized as having low luminosities, small diameters (less than 5 kpc), low surface brightnesses, and low hydrogen masses. The galaxies may be considered a s ...

and

irregular galaxies An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic in appearance, ...

Magellanic spirals

SAm galaxies are a type of

unbarred spiral galaxy An unbarred spiral galaxyAstronomy Pictures(accessed 18 April 2010) is a type of spiral galaxy without a central bar, or one that is not a barred spiral galaxy. It is designated with an SA in the galaxy morphological classification scheme. Ba ...

, while SBm are a type of

barred spiral galaxy A barred spiral galaxy is a spiral galaxy with a central bar-shaped structure composed of stars. Bars are found in about two thirds of all spiral galaxies, and generally affect both the motions of stars and interstellar gas within spiral galaxi ...

. Linda S. Sparke, John Sill Gallagher, ''Galaxies in the Universe: An Introduction'', 2ed., Cambridge University Press, 2007, SABm are a type of

intermediate spiral galaxy An intermediate spiral galaxy is a galaxy that is in between the classifications of a barred spiral galaxy and an unbarred spiral galaxy. It is designated as SAB in the galaxy morphological classification system devised by Gerard de Vaucouleur ...

. Type ''Sm'' and ''Im'' galaxies have also been categorized as

with some structure (type Irr-1). Sm galaxies are typically disrupted and asymmetric. dSm galaxies are

dwarf irregular galaxies An irregular galaxy is a galaxy that does not have a distinct regular shape, unlike a Spiral galaxy, spiral or an elliptical galaxy. Irregular galaxies do not fall into any of the regular classes of the Hubble sequence, and they are often chaotic ...

, depending on categorization scheme. The Magellanic spiral classification was introduced by

Gerard de Vaucouleurs Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

, along with

Magellanic irregular Magellanic may refer to: *Magellanic Steppe, 7th largest desert in the world, see Patagonian Desert *Magellanic Straits, a sea passageway at the tip of South America, see Strait of Magellan *Magellanic subpolar forests, an ecoregion of southernmost ...

(Im), when he revamped the

Hubble classification The Hubble sequence is a morphological classification scheme for galaxies invented by Edwin Hubble in 1926. It is often colloquially known as the Hubble tuning-fork diagram because the shape in which it is traditionally represented resembles a t ...

of galaxies.

Grades of Magellanic Spiral Galaxies

List of Magellanic spirals

Barred (SBm)

Large Magellanic Cloud The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), or Nubecula Major, is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way. At a distance of around 50 kiloparsecs (≈160,000 light-years), the LMC is the second- or third-closest galaxy to the Milky Way, after the ...

(LMC rototype *

Small Magellanic Cloud The Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), or Nubecula Minor, is a dwarf galaxy near the Milky Way. Classified as a dwarf irregular galaxy, the SMC has a D25 isophotal diameter of about , and contains several hundred million stars. It has a total mass of ...

(SMC) *

NGC 1311 NGC commonly refers to: * New General Catalogue of Nebulae and Clusters of Stars, a catalogue of deep sky objects in astronomy NGC may also refer to: Companies * NGC Corporation, name of US electric company Dynegy, Inc. from 1995 to 1998 * Nati ...

NGC 4618 NGC 4618 is a distorted barred dwarf galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy is formally classified as a Sm galaxy, which means that its structure vaguely resembles the structure of spiral galaxies. The galaxy is sometimes refer ...

University of Wisconsin
BARRED MAGELLANIC SPIRALS
(accessed 1 March 2009) *

NGC 4236 NGC 4236 (also known as Caldwell 3) is a barred spiral galaxy located in the constellation Draco. The galaxy is a member of the M81 Group, a group of galaxies located at a distance of approximately 11.7 Mly (3.6 Mpc) from Earth. The group ...

NGC 55 NGC 55, is a Magellanic type barred spiral galaxy located about 6.5 million light-years away in the constellation Sculptor. Along with its neighbor NGC 300, it is one of the closest galaxies to the Local Group, probably lying between the Milky ...

NGC 4214 NGC 4214 is a dwarf barred irregular galaxy located around 10 million light-years away in the constellation Canes Venatici. NGC 4214 is a member of the M94 Group. Characteristics NGC 4214 is both larger and brighter than the Small Magella ...

NGC 3109 NGC 3109 is a small barred Magellanic type spiral or irregular galaxy around 4.34 Mly away in the direction of the constellation of Hydra. NGC 3109 is believed to be tidally interacting with the dwarf elliptical galaxy Antlia Dwarf. It was di ...

IC 4710 IC 4710 is a galaxy in southern constellation of Pavo, roughly 34 million light-years away. Discovered on August 18, 1900 by astronomer DeLisle Stewart, this galaxy is composed of bright stars, with bright pockets — marking bursts of new star ...

Intermediate (SABm)

NGC 4625 NGC 4625 is a distorted dwarf galaxy in the constellation Canes Venatici. The galaxy is formally classified as a Sm galaxy, which means that its structure vaguely resembles the structure of spiral galaxies. The galaxy is sometimes referred to ...

NGC 5713 NGC 5713 is a peculiar, asymmetric galaxy in the constellation Virgo. Although classified as a spiral galaxy by most galaxy catalogs, NGC 5713 is very different from most normal spiral galaxies. While most spiral galaxies either have either two ...

Unbarred (SAm)

NGC 5204 NCG 5204 is a Magellanic spiral galaxy located about 14.5 million light-years away from EarthThe distance from Earth is . in the constellation of Ursa Major and is a member of the M101 Group of galaxies. It has a galaxy morphological classificat ...

NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
/ref> *

NGC 2552 NGC 2552 is a Magellanic spiral galaxy located some 22 million light years away. It can be found in constellation of Lynx (constellation), Lynx. This is a type of unbarred dwarf galaxy, usually with a single spiral arm. It is inclined by 41° to ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Magellanic Spiral * * Galaxy morphological types