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[6.10] FUSE Observations of Interstellar Molecular Hydrogen in the Small Magellanic Cloud

G. Sonneborn (NASA/GSFC), J. M. Shull, J. Tumlinson (U. Colo.), E. B. Jenkins (Princeton U.), B. D. Savage (U. Wisc.), H. W. Moos, K. R. Sembach (JHU), D. G. York (U. Chicago), FUSE Science Team

We present an initial study of molecular hydrogen and atomic species in the ISM of the Small Magellanic Cloud and the Milky Way on the sightline toward two O stars in the SMC. The two stars, HD 5980 and Sk 80, are separated by ~2 arcsec and are part of the dense star cluster and giant H II region NGC 346. FUSE spectra reveal numerous interstellar absorption lines from the H₂ Lyman and Werner bands shortward of 1120Å. H₂ column densities in low rotational states (J=0,1) provide kinetic temperatures of diffuse interstellar gas; higher rotaional states probe the UV radiation field. The low metallicity of the SMC is a very different environment from the Milky Way for molecular hydrogen formation.

This work is supported by NASA contract NAS5-32985.

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