Spatial distribution of stellar populations in the Magellanic Clouds: Implementation to Gaia

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the spatial distribution of various stellar populations in the Magellanic Clouds using isodensity maps, star counts, and profile fitting, aiding Gaia mission preparations.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed methodology for mapping and modeling stellar distributions in the Magellanic Clouds, including structural parameter derivation.

Findings

Morphological structures of stellar populations are characterized.

Structural parameters for different stellar components are derived.

Spatial distribution maps are produced for the Magellanic Clouds.

Abstract

The main goal of our project is to investigate the spatial distribution of different stellar populations in the Magellanic Clouds. The results from modelling the Magellanic Clouds can be useful, among others, for simulations during the Gaia mission preparation. Isodensity contour maps have been used in order to trace the morphology of the different stellar populations and estimate the size of these structures. Moreover, star density maps are constructed through star counts and projected radial density profiles are obtained. Fitting exponential disk and King law curves to the spatial distribution allows us to derive the structural parameters that describe these profiles. The morphological structure and spatial distributions of various stellar components in the Magellanic Clouds (young and intermediate age stars, carbon stars) along with the overall spatial distribution in both Clouds are provided.