Image Details
Caption: Figure 10.
Median distance map of the MCs derived from RC stars, corrected for both metallicity and age effects, plotted in MS coordinates. The LMC, centered near (LMS, BMS) ∼ (0°, 2°), has a median distance of ∼50.6 kpc, while the SMC, centered near (LMS, BMS) ∼ (−15°, −12°), has a median distance of ∼60.8 kpc. The black contour lines trace the RC stellar number density to aid in the visualization of periphery features. Common periphery features are labeled. Black “×” symbols indicate the stellar dynamical centers for the LMC and SMC derived in Section 3.4. A clear offset between the MCs is visible, along with hints of structure such as the LMC’s outer warp and the SMC’s elongation. This distance map is publicly available via Zenodo at DOI:10.5281/zenodo.18330355, with the associated code maintained on GitHub at https://github.com/slateroden/XMC_DistanceMap, released under the MIT License.
© 2026. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.