The small-scale structure of the Magellanic Stream
Open Access
- 1 March 1979
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Vol. 186 (3) , 433-451
- https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/186.3.433
Abstract
Five regions in the northern part of the Magellanic Stream have been surveyed at high sensitivity with an angular resolution of 0°.20 and a velocity resolution of 1.8 km s−1, in order to study their small-scale structure. The regions show narrow filamentary structure running parallel to the main direction of the Stream and containing small cloudlike concentrations. The clouds have typical angular half-power widths of 0°.4 × 0°.6, typical masses of 15 D2M⊙ (where D is their distance in kpc), and are preferentially oriented along the filaments. The velocity half-power widths are typically 25–30 km s−1. The mean velocity difference between adjacent clouds appear to increase systematically towards the tip of the Stream, but there is no evidence for any variation in cloud parameters along the Stream or for systematic motions within the individual clouds. The clouds appear to be unstable over the lifetime of the Stream as a whole, and some external containment mechanism seems to be necessary to preserve the small-scale structure. A number of possible mechanisms are discussed.Keywords
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