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The Kinematics of the Planetary Nebulae in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Stephen J. Meatheringham
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University
Michael A. Dopita
Affiliation:
Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatories, Australian National University
Holland. C. Ford
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute
B. Louise Webster
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales

Abstract

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The radial velocities of a total of 94 Planetary Nebulae (PN) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been determined. The kinematics of the population of planetary nebulae is compared with the H I data in the context of a re-analysis of the survey by Rohlfs et al. (1984), taking into account the transverse velocity of the LMC. We find that the best solution for this transverse velocity is 275±65 km s−1, and that the LMC is near perigalacticon. This is consistent with a maximum Galactic mass of order 4.5 × 1011M out to 51 kpc the rotation curve obtained after correction for this velocity implies a mass of (4.6 × 0.3) × 109 M within a radius of 3 degrees, or about 6 × 109 M, total. The rotation solution for the PN population is essentially identical with that of the H I, but the vertical velocity dispersion of 19.1 km s−1 is much greater than the value of 5.4 km s−1 found for the H I. This increase in velocity dispersion is consistent with it being the result of orbital heating and diffusion operating in the LMC in a manner essentially identical with that found for the solar neighbourhood.

Type
IV. Extragalactic Nebulae
Copyright
Copyright © Kluwer 1989