Bf. Jones et al., PROPER MOTION OF THE LARGE MAGELLANIC CLOUD AND THE MASS OF THE GALAXY .1. OBSERVATIONAL RESULTS, The Astronomical journal, 107(4), 1994, pp. 1333-1337
We have measured the proper motion of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC)
using 21 plates taken with the CTIO 4 m telescope and covering an epo
ch span of 14 yr. The plates were centered on the globular cluster NGC
2257, lying on the northeast periphery of the Cloud. Proper motions w
ere determined for 251 LMC members, chosen on the basis of the photome
try of Stryker [ApJS, 55, 127 (1984)], using 92 galaxies as a referenc
e frame. The measured mean absolute proper motion of the LMC stars in
our region is mu(alpha) = O.120'' +/- 0.028'' century-1, mu(delta) = 0
.026'' +/- 0.027'' century-1. After correcting for the rotation of the
LMC and the effects of solar motion, this proper motion combined with
the radial velocity of the LMC implies a galactocentric coordinate ra
dial velocity for the Cloud of 48 +/- 41 km s-1 and a total galactocen
tric transverse velocity of 215 +/- 48 km s-1.