The intrinsic reddening of the Magellanic clouds as traced by background galaxies – II. The small Magellanic cloud
We present a map of the total intrinsic reddening across similar or equal to 34 deg(2) of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) derived using optical (ugriz) and near-infrared (IR; YJK(s)) spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of background galaxies. The reddening map is created using a subsample of 29 274 galaxies with low levels of intrinsic reddening based on the LEPHARE chi(2) minimization SED-fitting routine. We find statistically significant enhanced levels of reddening associated with the main body of the SMC compared with regions in the outskirts [Delta E(B - V) similar or equal to 0.3 mag]. A comparison with literature reddening maps of the SMC shows that, after correcting for differences in the volume of the SMC sampled, there is good agreement between our results and maps created using young stars. In contrast, we find significant discrepancies between our results and maps created using old stars or based on longer wavelength far-IR dust emission that could stem from biased samples in the former and uncertainties in the far-IR emissivity and the optical properties of the dust grains in the latter. This study represents one of the first large-scale categorizations of extragalactic sources behind the SMC and as such we provide the LEPHARE outputs for our full sample of similar to 500 000 sources. ; European Research Council (ERC) 682115 ERC consolidator grant project STARKEY 615604 National Science Foundation (NSF) AST 1655677 Spanish Ministry for Science, Innovation and Universities AYA2016-81065-C2-2 European Commission AYA2016-81065-C2-2 State Agency for Research of the Spanish MCIU through the 'Centre of Excellence Severo Ochoa' award SEV-2017-0709 PGC2018-095049B-C21 Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT PIA/BASAL AFB-170002 Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT 1170364 Science and Engineering Research Board, India through a Ramanujan Fellowship UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) VISTA at the La Silla Paranal Observatory 179.B-2003 United States Department of Energy (DOE) National Science Foundation (NSF) Spanish Government UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Higher Education Funding Council for England National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Kavli Institute of Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago Ohio State University Ciencia Tecnologia e Inovacao (FINEP) Carlos Chagas Filho Foundation for Research Support of the State of Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPQ) Ministerio da Ciencia, Tecnologia e Inovacao German Research Foundation (DFG) Mitchell Institute for Fundamental Physics and Astronomy at Texas AM University United States Department of Energy (DOE) University of Chicago University of California at Santa Cruz University of Cambridge Centro de Investigaciones Energeticas, Medioambientales y Tecnologicas-Madrid University of Chicago University College London DES-Brazil Consortium University of Edinburgh ETH Zurich United States Department of Energy (DOE) University of Chicago University of Illinois atUrbanaChampaign Institut de Ciencies de l'Espai (IEEC/CSIC) Institut de Fisica d'Altes Energies United States Department of Energy (DOE) Ludwig-Maximilians Universitat Munchen associated Excellence Cluster Universe University of Michigan System National Science Foundation (NSF) NSF - Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences (MPS) University of Nottingham Ohio State University University of Pennsylvania University of Portsmouth Stanford University United States Department of Energy (DOE) Stanford University University of Sussex Texas AM University