1. Nubecula Major Adric Riedel IN GLORIOUS

2. Outline Discovery Its place in the Local Group The LMC as a whole Gas Stars Supernovae

3. History of the LMC Discovered in 1519 by Ferdinand Magellan Discovered in 1503 by Amerigo Vespucci Discovered in 964 by Abd-Al-Rahman Al Sufi Discovered even earlier by everyone who lived in the southern hemisphere

4. Basic Facts 50 kpc distant in the constellation Dorado Tidal radius 15 ± 4.5 kpc (van der Marel et al. 2002, ApJ 124, 2639) Actual distance is not known (despite supernova studies) because the LMC is thick. Wei-Hao Wang (IfA, U. Hawaii)

5. Basic Facts http://www.astronomy.com/asy/objects/images/local_group_0305_diagram_800.jpg

6. Basic Facts Third closest galaxy to the Milky Way (thus discovered) Canis Major Dwarf Irregular (d. 2003)7.6 kpc Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical (d. 1994)30 kpc Large Magellanic Cloud50 kpc Small Magellanic Cloud60 kpc Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal (d. 1954)60 kpc Sculptor Dwarf Spheroidal (d. 1937)90 kpc Draco Dwarf Spheroidal (d. 1954)80 kpc Sextans Dwarf Elliptical (d. 1990)90 kpc Carina Dwarf Spheroidal (d. 1977)100 kpc Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal (d. 1938)140 kpc Van den Bergh, 2000 PASP 112, 170 Discovery dates from http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/LG/lg.html

7. Basic Facts Fourth Largest Galaxy in the Local group M31 (Andromeda)7.5x10 11 M sun (Brunthaler, 2007 A&A, 462, 101) Milky Way1.3x10 12 M sun (Bellazini, 2004 MNRAS, 347, 119) M33 (Triangulum)1.29x10 10 M sun (Lohmann, 1974 Ap&SS, 29, 62) LMC8.7x10 9 M sun (Van der Marel 2002, AJ, 124, 2639) M32 NGC 68221.4x10 9 M sun (Harwit, Astrophysical Concepts) NGC 205 SMC2.4x10 9 M sun (Stanimirovic 2004, AJ, 604, 176) NGC 185 NGC 147 I have no idea

8. Things we can do with the LMC Calibrate Distance scales (Hubble 1925, Obs, 48, 139H ) Find the age of the universe Study stellar evolution from a top down perspective Find Dark Matter via microlensing Constrain the size of the Milky Way dark halo Study supernova evolution Study Giant Molecular Clouds Examine ISM from an external perspective Give seminar presentations Develop galaxy formation models Develop galactic chemical evolution models Enlarge sample sizes of rare stars

9. Obligatory

10. Morphology Often considered irregular Prototype SBm barred Magellanic Type spiral “Mediocre Design”

11. The Brothers Magellanic The Parkes HI telescope The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are interacting with each other. Bekki et al. (2004 ApJL, 610, L93) suggest they may be colliding The Magellanic stream contains 630 × 10 6 M sun of gas. (Brüns et al. 2005 A&A, 432, 45)

12. The Eventual Fate of the LMC Slowly spiraling into Milky Way According to Mastropietro et al. (2005, MNRAS 363, 509) the LMC has lost its dark matter halo already Mastropietro et al. 2005, MNRAS 363, 509

13. The Eventual fate of the LMC Mastropietro et al. assume the LMC started as a small spiral galaxy ‘Bar’ forms naturally from the tidal forces and gas/halo ram pressure Mastropietro et al. 2005, MNRAS 363, 509

14. The Eventual Fate of the LMC LMC eventually breaks up and merges with our galaxy This simulation intentionally ignores SMC Simulation ends before the potential collision with Andromeda 3-4 Gyr from now Mastropietro et al. 2005, MNRAS 363, 509

15. The LMC ISM The LMC still has plenty of gas May have been a ‘dark galaxy’ until relatively recently- van den Bergh (2000 PASP 112, 529) found few clusters between 4 and 10 Gyr old (also Bekki et al. 2004 ApJL, 610, L93) DEM L 130a (LMC N119) A spiral nebula ESO 2.2m/WFI C. Smith, S. Points, the MCELS Team and NOAO/AURA/NSF

16. The LMC ISM http://www.astro.uni-bonn.de/~miralles/hyperz/hyperz_manual1/node10.html.gif

17. The LMC ISM Grocholski et al. 2006 AJ 132, 1630

18. The LMC ISM Grocholski et al. 2006 AJ 132, 1630

19. Stars in the LMC Difficult to date The LMC is uniformly low metallicity, so Pop I and Pop II are irrelevant Two distinct epochs The SN1987a OB association Blue= >6M sun, Green=2-6M sun, Red=<2M sun http://heritage.stsci.edu/1999/04/nino/nino_ctr.html

20. 30 Doradus (Tarantula Nebula) 280 parsecs 9 parsecs Orion Nebula (M42) NASA,ESA, M. Robberto (Space Telescope Science Institute/ESA)

21. 30 Doradus: King of the Star Forming Regions Hodge 301 R136 HST, John Trauger (JPL), James Westphal (Caltech), Nolan Walborn (STScl), Rodolfo Barba' (La Plata Observatory), NASA 6x10 4 M sun (Townsley et al 2006, AJ 131, 2140)

22. Supernovae

23. Anglo-Australian Observatory, photograph by David Malin.

26. How we can see Superbubbles Holes in HI, shells of HII (Purple is H α, Cyan is OIII.) 350 ly Superbubble N44 Gemini Observatory GMOS Image/Travis Rector - University of Alaska Anchorage

27. SN 1987a (1997) Hubble Heritage Team (AURA/STScI/NASA/ESA) SN 1987a (2006) NASA, ESA, P. Challis & R. Kirshner (Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics)