Exploring Molecular Gas toward the Magellanic Bridge

Abstract

Abstract The Magellanic Bridge (MB) is a diffuse gas structure that connects the Large Magellanic Cloud with the Small Magellanic Cloud. The MB is the closest tidal interaction system between two galaxies to the Milky Way. Taking into account that young stellar objects are embedded in such gaseous structure, it is a unique laboratory to investigate gas dynamics and star formation processes in a very low metallicity environment. In this work we present a preview of the results obtained from observations made with the Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope toward some regions of the MB. Through the emission of the 12CO J = 2–1 line we characterize the molecular gas of these regions.