For billions of years, the Milky Way’s most massive companions – the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds – have been on a tumultuous journey through space, orbiting one another while being torn by the gravitational pull of our own galaxy.

Recent theoretical predictions suggest that these dwarf satellite galaxies must be protected by a pervasive shield that prevents the Milky Way from removing their essential star-forming gas. This so-called Magellanic Corona, made of supercharged gas with temperatures of half a million degrees, would act as a sort of cosmic crash zone around the Magellanic Clouds, keeping the stars and disk relatively unscathed during collisions. Although simulations show that the Magellanic Corona should exist, observational evidence has remained elusive.

Using a combination of the unique ultraviolet vision of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer, along with the probing power of distant quasars, scientists have finally been able to detect and begin to map the Magellanic Corona. The discovery of this diffuse halo of hot gas, extending more than 100,000 light-years from the Large Magellanic Cloud and covering much of the southern sky, confirms the prediction and illuminates our understanding of how small galaxies can interact with larger galaxies without losing the fuel needed for future star formation.