Why so many nebula in LMC vs SMC

[astrospotter (Mark)]

Something that cannot help but hit one at the eyepiece was to me the extreme difference in number of nebula within the LMC vs the SMC.

Perhaps a great amount of dust has been striped away from the SMC but the LMC is far fuller of dust and nebulous cloud matter or perhaps the LMC has had a more violent interaction with the milky way recently and as such is more 'shaken up' leading to more nebula.

Anyone seen a good discussion on this issue that is 'readable' by people with a fair background but not an astrophysics education?

Thanks,
Mark

[pgc hunter]

I'm no expert on this, but the LMC is bigger and more massive so it will invariably contain a larger number and variety of objects. It is also home to some of the largest and most active star forming regions known, not to mention some of the most massive stars and star clusters ever discovered, which would suggest a very active star-forming galaxy, hence the large number of observable objects. It is also closer to us than the SMC so that may also play a part in the visibility of its contents.

A while ago somewhere I read that there are around 400 observable objects in the LMC, but as much as I tried, I couldn't find the source.