Magellanic Clouds and the Milky Way
The Magellanic Clouds are being distorted by tidal forces, and are
enveloped in a mutual cloud of hydrogen with some evidence of a
bridge from that cloud to the Milky Way. This suggests that the
Magellanic Clouds recently
had a very strong gravitational encounter with our galaxy, perhaps even
passing through its disk.
Detailed study of the tidal interactions of the Magellanic Clouds with the Milky Way
confirm that our galaxy is much more massive than its luminous matter would
indicate. These studies also agree with the results from rotation curves that the
unseen matter is mostly in an extended halo of the galaxy.