The Supergiant Shell LMC 2. I. The Kinematics and Physical Structure

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

26

Ism: Bubbles, Ism: Individual (Lmc 2), Ism: Kinematics And Dynamics, Galaxies: Magellanic Clouds

Scientific paper

LMC 2 has the brightest, most coherent filamentary structure of all known supergiant shells in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The optical emission-line images show active star formation regions along the western edge and long filaments to the east. ROSAT PSPC and HRI images show bright X-ray emission from within the shell boundary, indicating the presence of hot gas. Counterintuitively, neither high-resolution echelle spectra in the Hα line nor aperture synthesis H I 21 cm emission-line observations show LMC 2 to have the kinematics expected of an expanding shell. Rather, LMC 2 appears to consist of hot gas confined between H I sheets. The interior surfaces of these sheets are ionized by the UV flux of massive stars in the star formation regions along the periphery of LMC 2, while the heating is provided by outflows of hot gas from the star formation regions and by SNRs interior to LMC 2. We have compared LMC 2 to other supergiant shells in the LMC and in more distant galaxies. When the spatial resolution of our data are degraded, we find that LMC 2 resembles supergiant shells observed at a distance of 4 Mpc that have previously been interpreted as expanding shells. Therefore, great caution should be exercised in the analysis and interpretation of the kinematics of distant supergiant shells to prevent overestimates of their velocities and total kinetic energies.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

The Supergiant Shell LMC 2. I. The Kinematics and Physical Structure does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with The Supergiant Shell LMC 2. I. The Kinematics and Physical Structure, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The Supergiant Shell LMC 2. I. The Kinematics and Physical Structure will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1497789

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.