Skip to main content

Research Repository

Advanced Search

The Clouds are breaking: tracing the Magellanic system with Gaia DR1 Mira variables

Deason, A.J.; Belokurov, V.; Erkal, D.; Koposov, S.E.; Mackey, D.

The Clouds are breaking: tracing the Magellanic system with Gaia DR1 Mira variables Thumbnail


Authors

V. Belokurov

D. Erkal

S.E. Koposov

D. Mackey



Abstract

We exploit the first data release from the Gaia mission to identify candidate Mira variables in the outskirts of the Magellanic Clouds. The repeated observations of sources during the initial phase of the Gaia mission is used to identify stars that show signs of variability. This variability information, combined with infrared photometry from Two Micron All Sky Survey and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, allows us to select a clean sample of giants in the periphery of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We find evidence for Miras surrounding the LMC out to ∼20 deg in all directions, apart from the North-West quadrant. Our sample does not generally follow the gas distribution of the Magellanic system; Miras are notably absent in the gaseous bridge between the LMC and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), but they are likely related to the stellar RR Lyrae bridge reported by Belokurov et al. (2016). The stellar stream discovered by Mackey et al. (2016) to the North of the LMC is almost perfectly delineated by our Mira variables, and likely extends further East towards the Galactic plane. The presence of an intermediate-age population in this stream advocates an LMC disc origin. We also find a significant excess of Miras to the East of the LMC; these more diffusely distributed stars are likely stripped SMC stars due to interactions with the LMC. Miras are also identified in regions of the sky away from the Clouds; we locate stars likely associated with known massive substructures, and also find potential associations with stripped SMC debris above the Galactic plane.

Citation

Deason, A., Belokurov, V., Erkal, D., Koposov, S., & Mackey, D. (2017). The Clouds are breaking: tracing the Magellanic system with Gaia DR1 Mira variables. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 467(3), 2636-2647. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx263

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jan 26, 2017
Online Publication Date Feb 1, 2017
Publication Date Jun 1, 2017
Deposit Date Feb 20, 2017
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Print ISSN 0035-8711
Electronic ISSN 1365-2966
Publisher Royal Astronomical Society
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 467
Issue 3
Pages 2636-2647
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx263
Related Public URLs https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.04600

Files

Published Journal Article (3.7 Mb)
PDF

Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society © 2017 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.





You might also like



Downloadable Citations