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THE DATA OBTAINED BY THE SPITZER SAGE LMC SAGE SMC AND SAGE VAR PROGRAMS TO MEASURE THE THREE DIMENSIONALSTRUCTURE OF THE MAGELLANIC SYSTEM USING CEPHEIDS. CEPHEIDS HAVE BEEN DEMONSTRATED TO HAVE A NARROW PERIOD LUMINOSITY RELATION IN THE MID-INFRARED SUCH THAT MEAN MAGNITUDES AND HENCE DISTANCES CAN BE OBTAINED WITH HIGH PRECISION. IN THE MAGELLANIC SYSTEM WE WILL BE ABLE TO OBTAIN DISTANCES WITH PRECISIONS OF 5 PERCENT TO INDIVIDUAL CEPHEIDS. USING AROUND 5000 CEPHEIDS A FACTOR OF 50 MORE THAN OUR PREVIOUS WORKS AND WITH NEWLY DISCOVERED CEPHEIDS IN THE MAGELLANIC BRIDGE WE WILL BE ABLE TO STUDY THE 3D STRUCTURE OF THE SYSTEM AT AN UNPRECEDENTED FIDELITY.UNDERSTANDING THE STRUCTURE OF THE MAGELLANIC SYSTEM IS KEY TO UNDERSTANDING ITS EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY. A MORE PRECISE THREE DIMENSIONAL REPRESENTATION OF THE SYSTEM WILL ENABLE US TO DISTINGUISH BETWEEN DIFFERENT THEORETICAL MODELS SUCH AS THOSE IN WHICH THE CLOUDS EXPERIENCE A CLOSE PASS AND THOSE IN WHICH THEY EXPERIENCE A MERGER EVENT. THE RECIPENT WILL CREATE TEMPLATES LIGHT CURVES TO PHASE THE MID IR CEPHEID OBSERVATIONS WITH THE PUBLICLY AVAILABLE OPTICAL OGLE LIGHT CURVES TO DETERMINE ACCURATE MEAN MAGNITUDES FOR THESE STARS. WE WILL ALSO CREATE A DEEP FIELD USING THE NEWLY RELEASED SAGE VAR DATA IN ORDER TO MEASURE THE OLD RR LYRAE POPULATION FOR COMPARISON WITH THE YOUNG CEPHEID POPULATION.THIS PROJECT IS COMPLEMENTARY TO THE ON GOING SPITZER EXPLORATION SCIENCE SMHASH PROGRAM WHICH IS STUDYING THE STRUCTURE OF THE MILKY WAY USING MID INFRARED OBSERVATIONS OF RR LYRAE. WE WILL BE ABLE TO USE THE RESULTS FROM THIS WORK IN CONCERT WITH SMHASH TO PRODUCE A 3D REPRESENTATION OF THE MW LMC SMC SYSTEM BYPASSING THE SYSTEMATICS OF USING MULTIPLE TELESCOPES.THE PROJECT LAYS AN EXCELLENT FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE JWST AND WFIRST PROJECTS STUDYING THE EVOLUTION OF DWARF GALAXY SYSTEMS. THE IN DEPTH STUDY OF THE WELL RESOLVED INTERACTING LMC SMC PAIR THAT WE WILL PERFORM WILL BE USED AS AN ARCHETYPE FOR STUDIES OF MOREDISTANT INTERACTING DWARFS IN THE JWST ERA. THESE WILL BE STUDIED AT THE SAME WAVELENGTHS THAT SPITZER USES TODAY.

$76,295FY2017National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA

Carnegie Institution Of Washington, Washington DC

Investigators

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