All articles tagged with #tidal interactions
ESO’s VISTA survey reveals the Large Magellanic Cloud is actively tearing stars from the Small Magellanic Cloud, stretching it along a SE–NW axis and showing that the SMC’s motions are dominated by long‑standing tidal forces from the LMC rather than simple rotation; the two dwarfs are being torn apart and are on a broad path to merge with the Milky Way in the distant future.
Scientists propose that the ultra-dense interiors of neutron stars could contain quark-gluon plasma—the same state of matter that existed moments after the Big Bang—and by analyzing how tidal forces in binary neutron-star systems imprint oscillation modes on gravitational waves, researchers hope to infer the stars’ interior structure and their equation of state, though current detectors aren’t yet sensitive enough; next‑generation observatories may confirm the presence of this exotic matter.