Untangling Magellanic Streams

The Magellanic Stream (MS) is known to contain multiple H<small>I</small> strands and corresponding stellar populations are being discovered. Combining a sample of 17 stars from the H3 (“Hectochelle in the Halo at High Resolution”) survey with 891 stars drawn from the <em>Gaia<...

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Main Authors: Dennis Zaritsky, Vedant Chandra, Charlie Conroy, Ana Bonaca, Phillip A. Cargile, Rohan P. Naidu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Maynooth Academic Publishing 2025-02-01
Series:The Open Journal of Astrophysics
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.129885
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author Dennis Zaritsky
Vedant Chandra
Charlie Conroy
Ana Bonaca
Phillip A. Cargile
Rohan P. Naidu
author_facet Dennis Zaritsky
Vedant Chandra
Charlie Conroy
Ana Bonaca
Phillip A. Cargile
Rohan P. Naidu
author_sort Dennis Zaritsky
collection DOAJ
description The Magellanic Stream (MS) is known to contain multiple H<small>I</small> strands and corresponding stellar populations are being discovered. Combining a sample of 17 stars from the H3 (“Hectochelle in the Halo at High Resolution”) survey with 891 stars drawn from the <em>Gaia</em> DR3 catalog, we trace stars along a sub-dominant strand of the MS, as defined by gas content, across 30${\mathstrut}^\circ$ on the sky. We find that the corresponding dominant strand at the similar position along the MS is devoid of stars with Galactocentric distance $\lesssim 55$ kpc while the subdominant strand shows a close correspondence to such stars. We conclude that (1) these two Stream strands have different origins, (2) they are likely only close in projection, (3) the subdominant strand is tidal in origin, and (4) the subdominant strand is composed of "disk" material, gas and stars, with a chemical composition that marginally favors it coming from the Small Magellanic Cloud.
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series The Open Journal of Astrophysics
spelling doaj-art-c36143883cb64b38b3dcada6566d72eb2025-08-20T03:39:18ZengMaynooth Academic PublishingThe Open Journal of Astrophysics2565-61202025-02-01810.33232/001c.129885Untangling Magellanic StreamsDennis ZaritskyVedant ChandraCharlie ConroyAna BonacaPhillip A. CargileRohan P. NaiduThe Magellanic Stream (MS) is known to contain multiple H<small>I</small> strands and corresponding stellar populations are being discovered. Combining a sample of 17 stars from the H3 (“Hectochelle in the Halo at High Resolution”) survey with 891 stars drawn from the <em>Gaia</em> DR3 catalog, we trace stars along a sub-dominant strand of the MS, as defined by gas content, across 30${\mathstrut}^\circ$ on the sky. We find that the corresponding dominant strand at the similar position along the MS is devoid of stars with Galactocentric distance $\lesssim 55$ kpc while the subdominant strand shows a close correspondence to such stars. We conclude that (1) these two Stream strands have different origins, (2) they are likely only close in projection, (3) the subdominant strand is tidal in origin, and (4) the subdominant strand is composed of "disk" material, gas and stars, with a chemical composition that marginally favors it coming from the Small Magellanic Cloud.https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.129885
spellingShingle Dennis Zaritsky
Vedant Chandra
Charlie Conroy
Ana Bonaca
Phillip A. Cargile
Rohan P. Naidu
Untangling Magellanic Streams
The Open Journal of Astrophysics
title Untangling Magellanic Streams
title_full Untangling Magellanic Streams
title_fullStr Untangling Magellanic Streams
title_full_unstemmed Untangling Magellanic Streams
title_short Untangling Magellanic Streams
title_sort untangling magellanic streams
url https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.129885
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