A kinematic model of the Small Magellanic Cloud built from Gaia DR3 proper motions of nine stellar populations spanning young main-sequence stars to red giants and star clusters, fit with MCMC to derive up to seven kinematic parameters. It traces an age-dependent transition from a non-rotating flattened elliptical old population to a rotation-supported, highly stretched young disk (<400 Myr), with inclination decreasing and position angle increasing with age, asymptotic rotation ~49-89 km/s, and a ~30 kpc line-of-sight extension. Four residual-proper-motion anomaly regions are identified (including a newly found infalling South East Anomaly), interpreted as tidal imprints of the SMC's recent interaction with the Large Magellanic Cloud.
A kinematic and morphological model of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) built from Gaia DR3 proper motions of nine stellar populations -- from young main-sequence stars (<2 Gyr) through red giant bra…