Ionized Gas in the Magellanic Stream

Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia ;
e-mail: g.madsen@physics.usyd.edu.au

Abstract

We report on new optical emission line observations toward the northern part of the Magellanic Stream. Using the Wisconsin H-Alpha Mapper (WHAM), we have detected Hα emission toward 17 directions spread across 50^∘ of the Stream. We find strong variation in the Hα surface brightness with no significant correlation with Magellanic longitude. We compare our data with HI observations and briefly discuss the implications for the physical conditions of the Stream.