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XXX. Stellar proper motions in the central parts of the Small Magellanic Cloud

Niederhofer, F.; Cioni, M.-R.L.; Rubele, S.; Schmidt, T.; Bekki, K.; de Grijs, R.; Emerson, J.; Ivanov, V.D.; Marconi, M.; Oliveira, J.M.; Petr-Gotzens, M.G.; Ripepi, V.; Van Loon, J. Th.; Zaggia, S.

XXX. Stellar proper motions in the central parts of the Small Magellanic Cloud Thumbnail


Authors

F. Niederhofer

M.-R.L. Cioni

S. Rubele

T. Schmidt

K. Bekki

R. de Grijs

J. Emerson

V.D. Ivanov

M. Marconi

M.G. Petr-Gotzens

V. Ripepi

S. Zaggia



Abstract

We present the first spatially resolved map of stellar proper motions within the central (similar to 3.1 x 2.4 kpc) regions of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The data used for this study encompasses four tiles from the ongoing near-infrared VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system and covers a total contiguous area on the sky of similar to 6.81 deg(2). Proper motions have been calculated independently in two dimensions from the spatial offsets in the K-s filter over time baselines between 22 and 27 months. The reflex motions of approximately 33 000 background galaxies are used to calibrate the stellar motions to an absolute scale. The resulting catalog is composed of more than 690 000 stars which have been selected based on their position in the (J - K-s; K-s) color-magnitude diagram. For the median absolute proper motion of the SMC, we find (mu(alpha) cos(delta), mu(alpha)) = (1.087 +/- 0.192 (sys.) +/- 0.003 (stat.), -1.187 +/- 0.008 (sys.) +/- 0.003 (stat.)) mas yr(-1), consistent with previous studies. Mapping the proper motions as a function of position within the SMC reveals a nonuniform velocity pattern indicative of a tidal feature behind the main body of the SMC and a flow of stars in the south-east moving predominantly along the line-of-sight.

Journal Article Type Letter
Acceptance Date Apr 24, 2018
Publication Date May 31, 2018
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Astronomy and Astrophysics
Print ISSN 2329-1273
Publisher Hans Publishers
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 613
Article Number L8
DOI https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833144
Keywords proper motions, surveys, galaxies, individual, SMC – Magellanic Clouds, stars, kinematics and dynamics
Publisher URL http://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833144

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