K. D. Gordon et al 2009 ApJ 690 L76 doi:10.1088/0004-637X/690/1/L76
K. D. Gordon1, C. Bot2, E. Muller3, K. A. Misselt4, A. Bolatto5, J.-P. Bernard6, W. Reach7, C. W. Engelbracht4, B. Babler8, S. Bracker8, M. Block4, G. C. Clayton9, J. Hora10, R. Indebetouw11, F. P. Israel12, A. Li13, S. Madden14, M. Meade8, M. Meixner1, M. Sewilo1, B. Shiao1, L. J. Smith1,15, J. Th. van Loon16 and B. A. Whitney17
Show affiliationsThe Tail region of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) was imaged using the MIPS instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the SAGE-SMC Spitzer Legacy. Diffuse infrared emission from dust was detected in all the MIPS bands. The Tail gas-to-dust ratio was measured to be 1200 ± 350 using the MIPS observations combined with existing IRAS and H I observations. This gas-to-dust ratio is higher than the expected 500-800 from the known Tail metallicity indicating possible destruction of dust grains. Two cluster regions in the Tail were resolved into multiple sources in the MIPS observations and local gas-to-dust ratios were measured to be ~ 440 and ~ 250 suggest dust formation and/or significant amounts of ionized gas in these regions. These results support the interpretation that the SMC Tail is a tidal Tail recently stripped from the SMC that includes gas, dust, and young stars.
98.56.Si Magellanic Clouds and other irregular galaxies
95.55.Fw Space-based ultraviolet, optical, and infrared telescopes
98.58.Ca Interstellar dust grains; diffuse emission; infrared cirrus
Issue 1 (2009 January 1)
Received 2008 September 22, accepted for publication 2008 November 10
Published 2008 December 8
K. D. Gordon et al 2009 ApJ 690 L76
F Benatti and R Floreanini 2006 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 39 2689
P H Borcherds 2004 Eur. J. Phys. 25 695
G T Gillies et al 2002 Nanotechnology 13 484
M Yu Kirillin et al 2008 Quantum Electron. 38 570
Christoph Weiss et al 2003 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36 1827
D K Chelvanayagam et al 2008 J. Neural Eng. 5 125
Helen Reynolds 2000 Phys. Educ. 35 469
P C Johnson and A B Parker 1970 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 3 L55
C S Pitcher and P C Stangeby 1997 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 39 779