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Past pericentric approach of the SMC to the Milky Way

Ascertain the timing and characteristics of the Small Magellanic Cloud’s past pericentric approach to the Milky Way, despite strong orbital perturbations by the Large Magellanic Cloud, to better constrain the interaction history relevant to the northeastern shell.

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Background

The discussion links the northeastern shell’s recent star formation enhancements to interactions between the SMC, LMC, and the Milky Way’s circumgalactic medium. Precise orbital history information is critical for testing these scenarios.

The authors highlight that the SMC’s orbit is strongly perturbed by the LMC, rendering the past pericentric approach to the Milky Way highly uncertain and limiting definitive conclusions about the shell’s formation timeline.

References

For instance, the past pericentric approach of the SMC to the MW is highly uncertain due to its orbit being strongly perturbed by the LMC.

— Unveiling the purely young star formation history of the SMC's northeastern shell from colour-magnitude diagram fitting (2407.13876 - Sakowska et al., 18 Jul 2024) in Section 5.1 (Potential scenarios for the formation of the northeastern shell)