Chemical Abundances in the Leading Arm of the Magellanic Stream
Abstract
A vast debris field connects the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds. Known as the Leading Arm of the Magellanic Stream, this network of gas clouds represents an active site of gas accretion onto the Milky Way. Previously only one chemical abundance measurement had been made in the Leading Arm, toward the AGN NGC 3783. Here we present new chemical abundance measurements along seven Leading Arm sightlines using Hubble/COS spectra of background AGN. We focus on the O/H and S/H abundances, which have small dust depletion and ionization corrections. These measurements provide important constraints on the origin of the Leading Arm and its relationship to the trailing Stream, and can be used to constrain numerical simulations of Leading Arm formation.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #231
- Pub Date:
- January 2018
- Bibcode:
- 2018AAS...23141101F