EPSAM

The structure of local group galaxies

Supervisor:  Dr Jacco van Loon

The Magellanic Clouds are two neighbouring gas-rich dwarf galaxies which are interacting between themselves and with the Milky Way Galaxy. While the LMC has a clear rotating disc and an offset bar, the SMC is highly distorted in its gas and younger stellar populations but it shows a much more spheroidal shape in its oldest stellar populations. This project aims to use the red clump stars, which is a well-populated feature in the Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram of intermediate-age stellar populations, to produce 3-D maps of the Magellanic Clouds and the Bridge connecting the two, in order to link the most recent disturbances and past such events, with the overall gravitational potential within which the oldest stars have settled. The data come from the recently started VISTA survey (VMC).