Sagittarius stream three-dimensional kinematics from Sloan digital sky survey stripe 82

Abstract

Using multi-epoch observations of the Stripe 82 region from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we measure precise statistical proper motions of the stars in the Sagittarius (Sgr) stellar stream. The multi-band photometry and SDSS radial velocities allow us to efficiently select Sgr members and thus enhance the proper-motion precision to ∼0.1 mas yr-1. We measure separately the proper motion of a photometrically selected sample of the main-sequence turn-off stars, as well as spectroscopically selected Sgr giants. The data allow us to determine the proper motion separately for the two Sgr streams in the south found in Koposov et al. Together with the precise velocities from SDSS, our proper motions provide exquisite constraints of the three-dimensional motions of the stars in the Sgr streams. © 2013. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..