Discovery of a split stellar stream in the periphery of the Small Magellanic Cloud

Abstract

I report the discovery of a stellar stream (Sutlej) using Gaia DR3 (third data release) proper motions and XP metallicities located 15° north of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). The stream is composed of two parallel linear components ('branches') approximately 8° × 0.6° in size and separated by 2.5°. The stars have a mean proper motion of () = (+0.08 mas yr-1, -1.41 mas yr-1), which is quite similar to the proper motion of stars on the western side of the SMC. The colour-magnitude diagram of the stream stars has a clear red giant branch, horizontal branch, and main-sequence turn-off that are well matched by a parsec isochrone of 10 Gyr, [Fe/H] = -1.8 at 32 kpc, and a total stellar mass of 33 000 M. The stream is spread out over an area of 9.6 deg2 and has a surface brightness of 32.5 mag arcsec-2. The metallicity of the stream stars from Gaia XP spectra extends over [M/H] with a median of [M/H] = -1.8. The tangential velocity of the stream stars is 214 km s-1 compared to the values of 448 km s-1 for the Large Magellanic Cloud and 428 km s-1 for the SMC. While the radial velocity of the stream is not yet known, a comparison of the space velocities using a range of assumed radial velocities shows that the stream is unlikely to be associated with the Magellanic Clouds. The tangential velocity vector is misaligned with the stream by nearly 90°, which might indicate an important gravitational influence from the nearby Magellanic Clouds.