The VMC ESO Public Survey

TL;DR

The VMC survey provides high-quality near-infrared data of the Magellanic Clouds, enabling detailed studies of star formation history, reddening, variable stars, and stellar motions, significantly advancing our understanding of galaxy evolution.

Contribution

This paper presents the ongoing VMC survey data, demonstrating its superior quality and its capability to analyze star formation, reddening, and stellar motions in the Magellanic Clouds.

Findings

High-quality near-infrared data enables detailed SFH analysis.

Reddening maps with high angular resolution are constructed.

Accurate proper motions of stellar populations are measured.

Abstract

The VISTA near-infrared YJKs survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC) has entered its core phase: about 40% of the observations across the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC, SMC), the Magellanic Bridge and Stream have already been secured and the data are processed and analysed regularly. The initial analyses, concentrated in the first two completed tiles in the LMC (6_6 including 30 Doradus and 8_8 including the South Ecliptic Pole), show the superior quality of the data. The depth of the VMC survey allows the derivation of the star formation history (SFH) with unprecedented quality compared to previous wide-area surveys while reddening maps of high angular resolution are constructed using red clump stars. The multi-epoch Ks-band data reveal tight period-luminosity relations for variable stars and they permit the measurement of accurate proper motions of the stellar populations. The VMC survey continues to acquire data that will address many issues in the field of star and galaxy evolution.