The two irregular galaxies that are satellites of our own Galaxy, easily seen with the naked eye in the southern hemisphere like detached portions of the Milky Way. They are named after the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan (1480–1521), who described them during his voyage around the world. Both Clouds are believed to orbit our Galaxy in a plane nearly perpendicular to its disk, and may eventually spiral into the Galaxy. See also Large Magellanic Cloud; Magellanic Stream; Small Magellanic cloud.