Illustration of Primordial Stellar Stream near Milky Way

This illustration shows the location of the C-19 stellar stream (orange, vertical stream of stars in lower left), which was recently discovered at the edge of our Milky Way Galaxy. Observations using the Gemini North telescope — part of the international Gemini Observatory, a Program of NSF’s NOIRLab — reveal that the stars in this stream were once part of an ancient globular star cluster that was torn apart by gravitational interactions with our galaxy. 

The Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud (satellite galaxies of the Milky Way) appear in the lower right.