THE MAGELLANIC STREAM: AGING, EXTENSION, AND ORBITS OF THE MAGELLANIC CLOUDS

该奖项是根据2009年美国复苏和再投资法案（公法111-5）资助的。根据该奖项，Snezana Stanimirovic博士（威斯康星州-麦迪逊大学）将进行一项研究，研究银河系的热大气如何塑造麦哲伦流（MS）的演变，麦哲伦流是一个壮观的100度长的中性氢（HI）尾巴，落后于我们最近的邻居麦哲伦云（MC）。这项研究的动机是最近发现的一个显着的扩展和MS气体的复杂性。MS气体的复杂的小尺度结构表明，与热银河系大气的动态相互作用正在起作用，特别是在MS的北方延伸。这一区域，在几个长长的细丝的形式，是不能解释的传统模型之间的相互作用的银河系和MC。该项目将利用阿雷西博和绿色班克射电望远镜以及威斯康星-印第安纳-耶鲁-国家光学天文观测台光学望远镜，对MS沿着几个区域进行迄今为止最灵敏的射电和光学观测。 深度观测将用于寻找银河系大气和MS之间相互作用的形态和光谱特征。观测结果是评估这两种介质相遇的界面区域中不同类型不稳定性的普遍性和重要性的基本样本。在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的博士论文，因此，代表了研究和教育的重点融合。该项目的另一个方面将是与阿雷西博射电望远镜的工作人员合作，设计和采用一种新的方法来抑制全球定位系统造成的强无线电干扰信号，这种干扰信号会消除1381兆赫频率的天文观测。所开发的方法将适用于世界范围内的所有射电望远镜。此外，将在威斯康星州大学建立一个新一代的教育和研究设施，以三个小型射电望远镜为基础，将研究与本科课程结合起来。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5). Under this award, Dr. Snezana Stanimirovic (University of Wisconsin - Madison) will carry out a study of how the hot Galactic atmosphere shapes the evolution of the Magellanic Stream (MS), a spectacular 100-degree long tail of neutral hydrogen (HI) trailing behind our closest neighbors, the Magellanic Clouds (MCs). This study is motivated by the recent discovery of a significant extension and of the complexity of MS gas. The complex small-scale structure of the MS gas suggests that dynamic interactions with the hot Galactic atmosphere are at work, especially at the northern extension of the MS. This area, in the form of several long filaments, is not explained by traditional models of the interactions between the Galaxy and the MCs. This project will obtain the most sensitive radio and optical observations to date of several regions along the MS with the Arecibo and Green Bank radio telescopes, and the Wisconsin-Indiana-Yale-National Optical Astronomy Observatory optical telescopes. The deep observations to be made will be used to search for morphological and spectral signatures of interactions between the Galactic atmosphere and the MS. The observations are essential samples to assess the prevalence and importance of different types of instabilities in the interface regions where these two media meet.This research will be the core topic of a Ph.D. dissertation at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and, therefore, represents a focused confluence of research and education. Another aspect of this project will be a collaboration with the staff at the Arecibo radio telescope to design and integrate a new method for the suppression of a strong radio interference signal caused by the Global Positioning System, which obliterates astronomical observations at a frequency of 1381 Megahertz. The developed method will be applicable to all radio telescopes world-wide. In addition, a new-generation education and research facility, based on three small radio telescopes, will be developed at the University of Wisconsin to integrate research with undergraduate classes.