2015/11/11 by Gurtina Besla, Besla, Gurtina
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics of Galaxies (astro-ph.GA) #FOS: Physical sciences #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1511.03346
Conference proceeding appears in "Lessons from the Local Group: A conference in honour of David Block and Bruce Elmegreen"
arxiv created 2015/11/11 · arxiv updated 2015/11/12
This proceeding overviews our current understanding of the orbital history and mass of the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Specifically I will argue that the Clouds are on their first infall about our Milky Way and that their total masses are necessarily ~10 times larger than traditionally estimated. This conclusion is based on the recently revised HST proper motions of the Clouds and arguments concerning the binary status of the LMC-SMC pair and their baryon fractions