Abstract:

Extensive studies of red horizontal branch (clump) stars in the outer parts of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) have suggested the presence of a large line-of-sight depth in the north-eastern region. A sample of red horizontal branch stars in the area of maximum depth was observed in 1989 December and 1990 December with the multi-object spectroscopic facility Autofib at the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope, with the purpose of deriving the velocity distribution for these stars. The data show a well- defined correlation between distance along the line of sight and radial velocity (corresponding to 8 km s^-1^ kpc^-1^), which may be interpreted as the result of the tidal interaction between the SMC and the LMC.

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