The ‘High Velocity Cloud’ Origin of the Magellanic System
- 1 January 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Cambridge University Press (CUP) in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
- Vol. 7 (1) , 19-25
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1323358000021755
Abstract
It is believed that the splitting of the SMC into two fragments and the production of the Inter-Cloud gas and the Magellanic Stream occurred in the one event 4 × 108 years ago. This event was a collision between the LMC and SMC. This time is too short for the Stream to be tidal, or be the result of stripping of the Inter-Cloud gas by a diffuse gaseous halo. It is proposed that the clouds in the Stream are the results of collisions between the Inter-Cloud gas and HVCs in the Galactic halo. A model of this process accounts for all of the observational features of the Stream. Observations of HVCs in the path of the Magellanic Clouds are used to predict the development of the Stream. The HVCs in our halo are thought to be a result of a collision of a galaxy with our Galaxy 6 × 109 years ago.Keywords
This publication has 12 references indexed in Scilit:
- The structure of the Small Magellanic CloudThe Astrophysical Journal, 1986
- Optical absorption from the high-velocity neutral hydrogen complex C in the spectrum of the RR Lyrae star BT DraconisThe Astrophysical Journal, 1985
- The Magellanic SystemPublications of the Astronomical Society of Australia, 1985
- A high-resolution optical survey of interstellar absorption lines toward globular clusters and extragalactic objects. II - Further dataThe Astrophysical Journal, 1981
- Galactic wakes and the Magellanic StreamThe Astrophysical Journal, 1979
- The small-scale structure of the Magellanic StreamMonthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 1979
- On the origin and dynamics of the Magellanic StreamThe Astrophysical Journal, 1979
- The Magellanic stream - The turbulent wake of the Magellanic clouds in the halo of the GalaxyThe Astrophysical Journal, 1977
- The effect of dynamical friction on the orbits of the Magellanic cloudsThe Astrophysical Journal, 1976
- Galactic Bridges and TailsThe Astrophysical Journal, 1972