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The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are the Milky Way’s nearest interacting galaxy pair, offering a unique laboratory for studying tidal effects on galactic disks. Despite extensive survey efforts, the 3D geometry of the Magellanic Clouds, particularly the putative warp of the LMC, remains poorly constrained due to incompleteness in their crowded centers and the low stellar density of their peripheries, which demand wide-field coverage. Using red clump (RC) stars as standard candles, corrected for age- and metallicity-dependent population effects with empirically calibrated color–magnitude relations and spatially resolved star formation histories, we construct the most detailed distance map of the Magellanic system to date. Based on ∼2.3 million RC stars from Gaia Data Release 3 combined with modern reddening maps, we measure median heliocentric distances of 50.62 ± 2.32 kpc for the LMC (to ∼23°) and 60.75 ± 2.85 kpc for the SMC (to ∼12°). The maps reveal substructures including the LMC Northern Arm, southern hooks, the Magellanic Bridge, and SMC peripheral overdensities, with refreshed distance estimates. Fitting the LMC disk within 7° yields a global inclination of i=25.°32±0.°10 and a line-of-nodes position angle of θ=142.°34±0.°21 . Most strikingly, we find the LMC periphery is warped azimuthally into a U-shaped structure reaching a vertical amplitude of ∼7 kpc at a radius of ∼15 kpc. In future work, we will perform detailed comparisons with live N-body simulations to assess possible formation scenarios for the LMC warp.

The J-region asymptotic giant branch (JAGB) method is a new standard candle that is based on the stable intrinsic J-band magnitude of color-selected carbon stars, and has a precision comparable to other primary distance indicators such as Cepheids and the TRGB. We further test the accuracy of the JAGB method in the Local Group galaxy M33. M33's moderate inclination, low metallicity, and nearby proximity make it an ideal laboratory for tests of systematics in local distance indicators. Using high-precision optical BVI and near-infrared JHK photometry, we explore the application of three independent distance indicators: the JAGB method, the Cepheid Leavitt law, and the TRGB. We find: μ 0(TRGB I ) = 24.72 ± 0.02 (stat) ± 0.07 (sys) mag, μ 0(TRGBNIR) = 24.72 ± 0.04 (stat) ± 0.10 (sys) mag, μ 0(JAGB) = 24.67 ± 0.03 (stat) ± 0.04 (sys) mag, and μ 0(Cepheid) = 24.71 ± 0.04 (stat) ± 0.01 (sys) mag. For the first time, we also directly compare a JAGB distance using ground-based and space-based photometry. We measure μ 0(JAGBF110W) = 24.71 ± 0.06 (stat) ± 0.05 (sys) mag using the (F814W−F110W) color combination to effectively isolate the JAGB stars. In this paper, we measure a distance to M33 accurate to 2% and provide further evidence that the JAGB method is a powerful extragalactic distance indicator that can effectively probe a local measurement of the Hubble constant using spaced-based observations. We expect to measure the Hubble constant via the JAGB method in the near future, using observations from the James Webb Space Telescope.

We present the Sloan Digital Sky Survey V Local Volume Mapper (LVM). The LVM is an integral-field spectroscopic survey of the Milky Way, Magellanic Clouds, and a sample of local volume galaxies, connecting resolved parsec-scale individual sources of feedback to kiloparsec-scale ionized interstellar medium (ISM) properties. The 4 yr survey covers the southern Milky Way disk at spatial resolutions of 0.05–1 pc, the Magellanic Clouds at 10 pc resolution, and nearby large galaxies at larger scales totaling >4300 deg2 of sky and more than 55M spectra. It utilizes a new facility of alt–alt mounted siderostats feeding 16 cm refractive telescopes, lenslet-coupled fiber optics, and spectrographs covering 3600–9800 Å at R ∼ 4000. The ultra-wide-field integral-field unit has a diameter of 0.°5 with 1801 hexagonally packed fibers of 35.″3 apertures. The siderostats allow for a completely stationary fiber system, avoiding instability of the line-spread function seen in traditional fiber feeds. Scientifically, LVM resolves the regions where energy, momentum, and chemical elements are injected into the ISM at the scale of gas clouds, while simultaneously charting where energy is being dissipated (via cooling, shocks, turbulence, bulk flows, etc.) to global scales. This combined local and global view enables us to constrain physical processes regulating how stellar feedback operates and couples to galactic kinematics and disk-scale structures, such as the bar and spiral arms, as well as gas in- and outflows.

The LMC and SMC are interacting dwarf galaxies offering a valuable testbed for studying galactic mergers. We investigate the LMC’s chemodynamic history during its interaction with the SMC by inferring stellar birth radii using APOGEE DR17 data, first validated on a hydrodynamical simulation reproducing their interaction history. Using birth radii and stellar ages, we identify signatures of dynamical and chemical evolution across the LMC disk. The LMC’s metallicity gradient steepened around 5, 3, and 1 Gyr ago, coinciding with enhanced star formation (SF). These events show distinct spatial patterns—initially inner-disk concentrated 5 Gyr ago, expanding outward by 3 Gyr, and becoming widespread with renewed central activity at 1 Gyr—likely reflecting changes in spin alignment if SF enhancements track the SMC’s pericenter passages. After accounting for disk scale-length differences, inferred radial migration strength rises relative to Milky Way (MW) expectations at ages <5 Gyr and during major SF enhancements reported in the literature. The most α-enriched stars formed 2–3 Gyr ago at birth radii of 2–4 kpc, the only epoch when SF was broadly distributed. Unlike the MW, the LMC lacks a clear [α/M]-[Fe/H] bimodality, likely due to more centrally concentrated SF versus the MW’s extended outer-disk SF. These results strongly constrain the LMC’s assembly and its interaction with the SMC.

The VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC) began observations in 2009 and since then, it has collected multi-epoch data at Ks and in addition multi-band data in Y and J for a wide range of stellar populations across the Magellanic system. Among them are pulsating variable stars: Cepheids, RR Lyrae, and asymptotic giant branch stars that represent useful tracers of the host system geometry.

The VISTA Magellanic Clouds Survey (VMC) is a near-infrared survey of the Magellanic system. The VMC data has been exploited to detect and study statistically correlated young groups of stars — also known as “young stellar structures” — in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC). We showcase the ∼ 3000 recently detected young stellar structures in the LMC and their similarity to the fractal interstellar medium. We discuss how their properties indicate their formation mechanisms and that there are no preferred scales of star formation in the LMC.

The Large and Small Magellanic Cloud (LMC and SMC) are the most luminous dwarf galaxy satellites of the Milky Way. Thanks to their close proximity (50-60 kpc), they provide one of the best opportunities to study in detail the kinematics of resolved stellar populations in an interacting pair of galaxies. Large photometric surveys like the ongoing Gaia mission and the near-infrared VISTA survey of the Magellanic Cloud system (VMC) will have a significant impact on our insight into the Magellanic system. We have combined the individual strengths of VMC and Gaia DR2 data to improve our understanding of the internal kinematics of the galaxies. In this study, we present results from our ongoing project dedicated to measure and analyse the proper motions of large samples of stars across the Magellanic Clouds, efficiently removing Milk Way foreground stars utilising distances derived with the StarHorse code.

For the first time, we report the identification of NUV bright red clump (RC) stars and the extension of RC stars over two magnitudes both in color and magnitude axis in NUV vs (NUV – optical) color magnitude diagram. We find that the extension of RC is not due to photometric uncertainties. We suggest that the extension could be an effect of field star contamination. We also suggest that if it is an intrinsic property of the cluster then age and/or metallicity spread within the cluster could be the possible reasons for extended RC.

The Magellanic Stream is unique to sample the MW potential from ∼50 kpc to 300 kpc, and is also unique in constraining the LMC mass, an increasingly important question for the Local Group/Milky Way modeling. Here we compare strengths and weaknesses of the two types of models (tidal and ram-pressure) of the Magellanic Stream formation. I will present our modeling for the formation of the Magellanic System, including those of the most recent discoveries in the Stream, in the Bridge and at the outskirts of Magellanic Clouds. This model has been successful in predicting most recent observations in both properties of stellar and gas phase. It appears that it is an over-constrained model and provides a good path to investigate the Stream properties. In particular, this model requires a LMC mass significantly smaller than 10 11 M ⊙ .

Observational studies have identified several sub-structures in different regions of the Magellanic Clouds, the nearest pair of interacting dwarf satellites of the Milky Way. By studying the metallicity of the sources in these sub-structures, we aim to shed light on the possible origin of these sub-structures. Spectroscopic metallicities exist only for a few thousand sources, mostly giant stars located in specific regions of the galaxies. These metallicities come from different instruments at various spectral resolutions, and systematic uncertainties hamper comparisons and draw firm conclusions about their origin. The third data release of Gaia has provided us with ∼ 0.17 million XP spectra of the different stellar populations in the SMC alone as faint as ∼ 18 mags in the G band, which are spread across ∼ 10° from the SMC centre. We aim to determine the metallicities of these sources based on synthetic Strömgren photometry derived from XP spectra and produce a high-resolution metallicity map of the SMC. Our metallicity gradient estimate of the SMC turns out to be −0.062 ± 0.009 dex/deg. This is comparable with the previous estimates, which also validates our method of metallicity estimation. We aim to apply this method to other stellar populations and to the LMC to create a high-resolution metallicity map of the Magellanic Clouds.