We present the stellar parameters for 59,266 high-quality spectra of 24,130 unique stars from the MaNGA Stellar Library (MaStar) in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 17 (DR17). The median signal-to noise ratio per pixel of the spectra is 96. We derive four stellar parameters, effective temperature ( T _eff ), surface gravity ( $\mathrm{log}g$ ), metallicity ([M/H]), and α -enhancement ratio ([ α /M]), by comparing the data with BOSZ (ATLAS-9 based) and MARCS theoretical atmospheric models. We adopt a Bayesian method and use color and absolute magnitude derived from Gaia to select a subset of theoretical models for each star. We then perform full-spectrum fitting to estimate the likelihood of each model in the subset and then compute their likelihood-weighted mean parameters as the final parameters. We set stellar-parameter quality flags to facilitate the use of the derived stellar parameters. The MaStar stellar parameters derived herein span an effective temperature range of 2600 ≤ T _eff ≤ 29,861 K, a surface gravity range of $0\,\leqslant \,\mathrm{log}g\,\leqslant \,5.5$ , a metallicity range of −4.9 ≤ [M/H] ≤ 1.0, and an α -abundance range of −0.98 ≤ [ α /M] ≤ 1.0. We compare these parameters with those from APOGEE and Gaia for stars in common, finding general consistency within the uncertainties. However, some artifacts and systematic differences are present, and we discuss their potential causes. These new stellar parameters are available through the MaStar SDSS-IV DR17 value-added catalog ( http://www.sdss4.org/dr17/mastar/mastar-stellar-parameters/ ).
Crater II (CraII), a large and low-density dwarf spheroidal galaxy, has unusual observed properties that are difficult to reproduce in cold dark matter simulations. Ongoing tidal disruption may help explain the discrepancies, as evidenced by the recent discovery of tidal tails. Here we present metallicity-sensitive narrowband photometry of the Ca II H and K lines from the Dark Energy Camera, covering 128 deg^2 across the center and identified tidal tails of CraII as part of the Mapping the Ancient Galaxy in CaHK (MAGIC) survey. Our combined photometric metallicity, color-magnitude, proper motion, and parallax selections identify 162 CraII candidates. Of these, 37 candidates are located in the tidal tails which extend at least 7^∘ (∼ 95 kpc) from the center of CraII, suggesting it has lost ≳ 25
Studies of the Solar Neighborhood require spectroscopic follow-up of stars identified in astrometric surveys to fully characterize their physical properties. The SDSS-V Solar Neighborhood Census (SNC) is a dedicated program to observe stars within 100 pc. However, due to competing observing programs and fiber assignment constraints, the resulting sample carries severe and complex selection effects. A framework is presented for characterizing the selection function of the SDSS-V SNC relative to the Gaia Catalog of Nearby Stars (GCNS), along with a forward modeling method to infer the properties of stellar subpopulations across the GCNS-defined 100 pc sample. The selection function is based on a method that models the selection probability as a function of sky position, Gaia G magnitude, and BP-RP. The resulting detection probabilities faithfully reproduce the known survey planning logic. This work further introduces the concept of a "subpopulation probability" – a grid of posterior estimates across the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram representing the likelihood that a GCNS member belongs to a given SDSS-V defined subpopulation. The framework is validated with a mock dataset and its scientific utility is demonstrated through two applications using data from the Data Release 19: mapping Hα emission across the HR diagram and measuring the variation of stellar density with mass and metallicity. These results illustrate how statistically robust population studies can be conducted with an incomplete spectroscopic survey when the selection function is well characterized. The code is made publicly available with this work, which will serve as an important tool for future studies.
Large spectroscopic surveys require robust pipelines capable of inferring stellar parameters over a wide range of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram from data of varying quality. SDSS-V is one such survey, where the data from the lower-resolution, optical BOSS spectrograph will provide a large dataset covering a wide range of Galactic stellar populations. To better analyze these data, we present BOSS-CLAM, a generative, forward modeling pipeline for inferring effective temperature ($T_\mathrm{eff}$), surface gravity ($\log g$), metallicity ($[\mathrm{Fe/H}]$), and $α-$abundance ($[α/\mathrm{M}]$) from continuum-normalized BOSS spectra. BOSS-CLAM maps stellar labels to Non-negative Matrix Factorization (NMF) basis vector weights via a polynomial mapping jointly optimized with the spectral decomposition, which provides a more flexible framework for working with the lower-resolution BOSS data. Additionally, training labels are drawn from four complementary sources (ASPCAP, BOSS-MINESweeper, wide binaries, and a hot star validation sample), which enables coverage from cool M dwarfs through hot OB stars, and across a wide range of metallicity. We infer parameters for 1,708,214 BOSS spectra, with a recommended clean catalog of 915,514 sources. Validation against open and globular clusters demonstrates homogeneous, accurate abundances across a wide range of metallicity. Wide binary tests yield abundance uncertainties of $σ_{[\mathrm{Fe/H}]} \approx 0.15$ dex and $σ_{[α/\mathrm{M}]} \approx 0.06$ dex at SNR = 10. Finally, we demonstrate that the BOSS-CLAM catalog recovers known chemical structure of the Milky Way disk and is well-suited for Galactic archaeology, chemical tagging, and stellar population modeling. The pipeline, trained model, and catalog are publicly released as part of SDSS-V DR20.
The first stars formed out of pristine gas, causing them to be so massive that none are expected to have survived until today. If their direct descendants were sufficiently low-mass stars, such stars could exist today and would be recognizable by having the lowest metallicities (abundance of elements heavier than helium). Here we present the independent identification and detailed chemical analysis of the star SDSS J0715-7334, finding ultralow elemental abundances of both iron and carbon ([Fe/H] = -4.3, [C/Fe] < -0.2) and total metallicity Z < 7.8 & times; 10(-7) (log Z/Z(circle dot) < -4.3). The star's orbit indicates that it originates from the halo of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its heavy element abundance pattern can be explained by a primordial supernova with an initial mass of 30 solar masses. This star is over ten times more chemically pristine than the most extreme high-redshift galaxies currently found by the James Webb Space Telescope. It is sufficiently metal-poor that current models of low-mass star formation require dust cooling to explain its existence.
We present detailed chemical abundances of the brightest star in each of the ultrafaint dwarf galaxies Eridanus IV and Centaurus I using high-resolution Magellan/MIKE spectroscopy. The brightest star in Centaurus I, CenI-5136, is a very metal-poor star with metallicity [Fe/H] = -2.52 +/- 0.17 and chemical abundances typical of a star in an ultrafaint dwarf galaxy. We confirm that the star in Eridanus IV, EriIV-9808, is extremely metal poor ([Fe/H] = -3.25 +/- 0.19) and find that it is carbon enhanced ([C/Fe] = 1.07 +/- 0.34), as is common for many stars at this metallicity. Both stars are also neutron-capture deficient, which is typical of stars in ultrafaint dwarf galaxies, but less common in other environments. We consider possible enrichment scenarios for EriIV-9808 and tentatively conclude that it is unlikely to be the descendant of a single Population III progenitor, despite its carbon enhancement and low metallicity.
The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are the Milky Way's nearest interacting galaxy pair, offering a unique laboratory for studying tidal effects on galactic disks. Despite extensive survey efforts, the 3D geometry of the Magellanic Clouds, particularly the putative warp of the LMC, remains poorly constrained due to incompleteness in their crowded centers and the low stellar density of their peripheries, which demand wide-field coverage. Using red clump (RC) stars as standard candles, corrected for age- and metallicity-dependent population effects with empirically calibrated color-magnitude relations and spatially resolved star formation histories, we construct the most detailed distance map of the Magellanic system to date. Based on similar to 2.3 million RC stars from Gaia Data Release 3 combined with modern reddening maps, we measure median heliocentric distances of 50.62 +/- 2.32 kpc for the LMC (to similar to 23 degrees) and 60.75 +/- 2.85 kpc for the SMC (to similar to 12 degrees). The maps reveal substructures including the LMC Northern Arm, southern hooks, the Magellanic Bridge, and SMC peripheral overdensities, with refreshed distance estimates. Fitting the LMC disk within 7 degrees yields a global inclination of i=25.degrees 32 +/- 0.degrees 10 and a line-of-nodes position angle of theta=142.degrees 34 +/- 0.degrees 21 . Most strikingly, we find the LMC periphery is warped azimuthally into a U-shaped structure reaching a vertical amplitude of similar to 7 kpc at a radius of similar to 15 kpc. In future work, we will perform detailed comparisons with live N-body simulations to assess possible formation scenarios for the LMC warp.
Using SDSSnV DR19 Milky Way Mapper APOGEE data, we measure the impact that close binarity has on surface chemistry across the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram in a broad set of abundances by studying single-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB1s) in open clusters. We derive binary membership and orbital parameters for 103 SB1s by analysing APOGEE radial velocities with the joker and ultranest. We perform a detailed abundance analysis with bacchus to derive abundances in fourteen chemical species: Si, Fe, C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Ce, and Nd. Leveraging the assumptions of chemical homogeneity in open clusters, we compare the surface abundances of SB1s to non-binary stars at similar evolutionary states. We find that a subset of binaries with significant UV excess have a Delta[C/N] that is 0.2-0.5 dex higher than expected, resulting in overestimated [C/N]-based ages for those stars. This points to pollution from an evolved companion and has implications for [C/N]-based age studies of the broader Milky Way. At the population level, we find that SB1s in our sample can be treated as statistically chemically homogeneous with their single-star counterparts, and we find no connection between orbital separation and chemical enrichment or depletion. We show that at separations up to 5 pc, co-eval stars can be considered chemically homogeneous with one another within current abundance precisions, regardless of multiplicity.
We utilize the Stellar LAbel Machine (SLAM), a data-driven model based on support vector regression, to derive the stellar parameters ([Fe/H], Teff, and logg ) for Sloan Digital Sky Survey V M dwarfs using low-resolution optical spectra (R similar to 2000) obtained with the BOSS spectrographs. These parameters are calibrated using LAMOST F, G, or K dwarf companions ([Fe/H]) and APOGEE Net (Teff and logg ), respectively. Comparisons of the SLAM-predicted [Fe/H] values between the two components of M+M dwarf wide binaries show no bias but a scatter of 0.11 dex. Further comparisons with two other works, which also calibrated the [Fe/H] of M dwarfs by using the F/G/K companions, reveal biases of -0.06 +/- 0.16 dex and 0.02 +/- 0.14 dex, respectively. The SLAM-derived effective temperatures agree well with temperatures that are calibrated by using interferometric angular diameters (bias -27 +/- 92 K) and those of LAMOST (bias -34 +/- 65 K) but are systematically lower than those from an empirical relationship between the color index and Teff by 146 +/- 45 K. The SLAM surface gravity aligns well with those of LAMOST (bias -0.01 +/- 0.07 dex) and those derived from the stellar mass and radius (bias -0.04 +/- 0.09 dex). Finally, we investigate a bias in [Fe/H] between SLAM and APOGEE ASPCAP. This depends on ASPCAP's [Fe/H] and Teff, and we provide an equation to correct the ASPCAP metallicities.
Stars that contain trace amounts of elements heavier than helium (that is, 'metallicity') preserve the chemical fingerprints of the first stars. In the Milky Way, nearly all of the lowest-metallicity stars show an extreme over-abundance of carbon. The origin of this signature has remained a mystery owing to the lack of observational constraints on the environments in which it originates. Here we present observations of a star in the >10-billion-year-old ultrafaint dwarf galaxy Pictor II, showing the lowest iron and calcium abundances outside the Milky Way (<1/43,000th solar and similar to 1/160,000th solar), with >3,000x relative carbon enhancement. The star's exceptional paucity in iron and calcium make it clearly preserve enrichment from the first stars in a relic dwarf galaxy; Pictor II is one of the smallest, most chemically primordial systems known. This star supports the hypothesis that extreme carbon enhancement results from low-energy supernovae from the first stars, as the yields of energetic supernovae are harder to retain in small-scale environments. This signature of enrichment by the first stars may trace a regime inaccessible to current high-redshift observations, which can hardly detect the initial enrichment of the smallest galaxies.
Binary interaction in massive stars is expected to produce a large population of intermediate-mass (2-8 M_⊙) envelope-stripped stars, yet such objects have remained elusive in the Milky Way. We report the identification of an unambiguous Galactic example in a short-period (P=5.94 d), double-lined spectroscopic binary, discovered in the SDSS-V Milky Way Mapper survey. The system consists of a rapidly rotating O-type star and a hotter, lower-mass companion, which shows He II and N IV emission lines with large radial velocity variations, revealing its binary nature. Combined orbital constraints and joint spectroscopic and photometric modelling show that the companion is a hot (T_∗≈ 60 kK), helium-rich star with a mass of 3.2-5.8 M_⊙, placing it squarely in the intermediate-mass regime and below values typically inferred for classical Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars. The system's short period, negligible eccentricity, and rapidly rotating O-star point to a post-interaction configuration following efficient mass transfer and spin-up of the accretor. Comparison with binary evolution models suggests that the stripped star is observed in a brief inflated phase following mass transfer, which increases its optical flux contribution and facilitates its detection. The inferred mass-loss rate logṀ = -6.3 ± 0.1 is in line with mass-loss rates observed for classical WR stars in the Milky Way and exceeds those measured for intermediate-mass stripped stars in the Magellanic Clouds, with the caveat that our target selection is biased towards systems with stronger emission features. As an unambiguous and well-characterised intermediate-mass stripped star, this system provides a key benchmark for models of binary evolution at solar metallicity, stripped-envelope supernova progenitors, and the formation of compact-object binaries.
We present the first spatially contiguous study of the physical and chemical structure of the Helix Nebula (NGC 7293, PNG 036.1-57.1) based on integral-field spectroscopy from the SDSS-V Local Volume Mapper (LVM). The wide-field observations provide nearly complete spectroscopic coverage of the nebula, enabling a spaxel-by-spaxel analysis of extinction, electron density and temperature, ionisation structure, and chemical abundances. We reconstruct calibrated datacubes from the LVM row-stacked spectra and measure 41 optical emission lines, including hydrogen, helium, and collisionally excited metal lines. The resulting maps reveal a strongly stratified nebula, with highly ionised gas traced by concentrated toward the central cavity, low-ionisation material dominating the bright shell, and neutral or transition-zone gas enhanced in the outer regions. The Helix is a low-density object, with typical electron densities of ∼10^2cm^-3, and exhibits a non-uniform temperature structure, with variations of several thousand Kelvin across different ionisation zones. We derive a near-solar oxygen abundance, 12+log(O/H)≃8.7, consistent with spatially complete sampling. The central abundance pattern indicates a significant contribution from unobserved O^3+, suggesting that apparent abundance variations are primarily driven by ionisation effects rather than true chemical inhomogeneities. We also find evidence for a sulfur deficit of ∼1 dex, consistent with the planetary-nebula sulfur anomaly. The helium and nitrogen abundances place the Helix near the classical boundary of Type I planetary nebulae, suggesting moderate chemical enrichment by its progenitor star.
Mapping the local and distant Universe is key to our understanding of it. For decades, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) has made a concerted effort to map millions of celestial objects to constrain the physical processes that govern our Universe. The most recent and fifth generation of SDSS (SDSS-V) is organized into three scientific "mappers": the Milky Way Mapper, which aims to chart the various components of the Milky Way and constrain its formation and assembly; the Black Hole Mapper, which focuses on understanding supermassive black holes in distant galaxies across the Universe; and the Local Volume Mapper, which uses integral field spectroscopy to map the ionized interstellar medium in the Local Group. This paper describes the scope and content for the nineteenth data release (DR19) of SDSS, which is the most substantial to date in SDSS-V. DR19 is the first to contain data from all three mappers. Additionally, we also describe nine value-added catalogs that enhance the science that can be conducted with the SDSS-V data. Finally, we discuss how to access SDSS DR19 and provide illustrative examples and tutorials.
We present the discovery of Aquarius IV (Rubin J2201-0234) – the first ultra-faint Milky Way satellite to be identified using data from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. This system was detected at ∼8σ significance using Rubin Early Data Preview 2 (EDP2) photometry and independently confirmed at ∼6σ significance in archival Dark Energy Camera imaging. Jointly fitting its morphology and distance, we find that Aquarius IV is a low-luminosity (M_V=-1.9^+0.6_-1.0), compact (r_1/2 = 19^+4_-6 pc; r_h = 0.60^+0.14_-0.17 arcmin) stellar system in the outer Galactic halo (D_⊙ = 109^+6_-8 kpc). Its stellar population is consistent with an ancient, metal-poor stellar isochrone (τ= 13 Gyr, Z=0.0001). These properties closely resemble those of the smallest and faintest confirmed ultra-faint dwarf galaxies, though a globular cluster classification is not ruled out. Given the small number of detected member stars in Rubin EDP2, deeper imaging and spectroscopy will be critical for determining the properties and classification of Aquarius IV at higher confidence.
We present deep, wide-field Magellan/Megacam imaging of the ultra-faint Milky Way (MW) satellites Grus II (Gru II) and Horologium II (Hor II), with the aim of deriving improved constraints on their distances, luminosities, and structural parameters, while also searching for possible signs of tidal disturbance. Our photometry reaches approximately 3 magnitudes deeper than the discovery data, enabling robust measurements of these quantities. Both systems exhibit color-magnitude diagrams consistent with old (∼12.5 Gyr), very metal-poor stellar populations. We find Gru II to be at a distance of 52.3 ± 1.9 kpc, with a half-light radius of 6.8 ± 0.5 arcmin (103 ± 9 pc), ellipticity ε= 0.25 ± 0.07, and absolute magnitude M_V = -4.07 ± 0.50 mag. Hor II is further away at a distance of 72.4^+5.9_-5.5 kpc and more compact, with r_h = 2.1 ± 0.2 arcmin (44^+6_-5 pc), ε= 0.32^+0.20_-0.16, and M_V = -2.10 ± 0.44 mag. Both galaxies lie within the typical size-luminosity locus of MW ultra-faint dwarfs. Gru II shows an asymmetric morphology including multi-directional clumpy features, some of which may be suggestive of tidal disturbance. We further identify and spectroscopically confirm a new distant member just outside 3r_h in Gru II, providing independent evidence for member stars at large projected radii. In contrast, Hor II appears regular, with no significant extended structure detected to the surface-brightness limits of our data.
SDSS-V will obtain 100,000s of medium-resolution, optical spectra of M dwarfs with the BOSS instrument. M dwarfs have complex atmospheres, and their spectra contain many wide and dense, overlapping molecular features, so determining accurate stellar parameters by fitting models has been difficult. To circumvent this, other surveys have employed machine learning methods to transfer measurements of stellar parameters from high-resolution spectra to their medium-resolution counterparts. These methods provide large catalogs of stellar parameters but, if not addressed properly, are plagued by biases which are, in part, due to the normalization of the spectra. Typical spectral normalization removes the continuum but preserves the relative depths of the absorption features, but optical M dwarf spectra are almost entirely made up of molecular absorption, which makes this difficult. Here, we develop a standardization method that instead defines a pseudo-continuum. We use the spectrum's alpha shape to find the points which lie between the absorption features and apply local polynomial regression to find this pseudo-continuum. To tune the hyperparameters of this method, we create BOSS-like spectra from BT-NextGen models to replicate instrumental, signal-to-noise, and reddening effects. We find that in both this generated set and a validation set of the SDSS-V data, our method performs better than alternative standardizations by producing spectra that are both more uniform for M dwarfs with similar stellar parameters and more easily distinguished compared to M dwarfs of differing parameters. These results from our method will be crucial for better determining stellar parameters of M dwarfs using generative models.
In this work, we present high-resolution spectroscopic observations for six metal-poor stars with [Fe/H] < –3 (including one with [Fe/H] < –4), selected using narrowband Ca ii HK photometry from the DECam MAGIC Survey. The spectroscopic data confirm the accuracy of the photometric metallicities and allow for the determination of chemical abundances for 16 elements, from carbon to barium. The program stars have chemical abundances consistent with the [Fe/H] < –3 range. A kinematic/dynamical analysis suggests that all program stars belong to the distant Milky Way halo population (heliocentric distances 35 < d _helio /kpc ≲ 55), including three with high-energy orbits that might have been associated with the Magellanic system and one, J0026−5445, having parameters consistent with being a member of the Sagittarius stream. The remaining two stars show kinematics consistent with the Gaia-Sausage/Enceladus dwarf galaxy merger. J0433−5548, with [Fe/H] = –4.12, is a carbon-enhanced ultra metal-poor star, with [C/Fe] = +1.73. This star is believed to be a bona fide second-generation star, and its chemical abundance pattern was compared with yields from metal-free supernova models. Results suggest that J0433−5548 could have been formed from a gas cloud enriched by a single supernova explosion from an ∼11 M _⊙ star in the early Universe. The successful identification of such objects demonstrates the reliability of photometric metallicity estimates, which can be used for target selection and statistical studies of faint targets in the Milky Way and its satellite population. These discoveries illustrate the power of measuring chemical abundances of metal-poor Milky Way halo stars to learn more about early galaxy formation and evolution.
We determine radial- and age-abundance gradients of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) using spectra of 2,062 red giant branch (RGB) field stars observed by SDSS-IV / APOGEE-2S. With coverage out to $\sim$9 kpc in the SMC, these data taken with the high resolution ($R \sim 22,500$) APOGEE $H$-band spectrograph afford the opportunity to measure extensive radial gradients for as many as 24 abundance ratios. The SMC is found to have an overall metallicity gradient of $-$0.0546 $\pm$ 0.0043 dex/kpc. Ages are calculated for every star to explore the evolution of the different abundance gradients. As a function of age, many of the gradients show a feature 3.66--5.58 Gyr ago, which is especially prominent in the [X/H] gradients. Initially many gradients flatten until about $\sim$5.58 Gyr ago, but then steepen in more recent times. We previously detected similar evolutionary patterns in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) which are attributed to a recent interaction between the LMC and SMC. It is inferred that the feature in the SMC gradients was caused by the same interaction. The age-[X/Fe] trends, which track average [X/Fe] over time, are flat, demonstrating a slow enrichment history for the SMC. When comparing the SMC gradients to the LMC and MW, normalized to disk scale length ($R_\text{d}$), the [X/Fe] and [X/Mg] gradients are similar, but there is a dichotomy between the dwarfs and the Milky Way (MW) for the [X/H] gradients. The median MW [X/H] gradient around $-$0.125 dex/$R_\text{d}$ whilst the Clouds have gradients of about $-$0.075 dex/$R_\text{d}$.
A quadruply lensed source, J125856.3–031944, has been discovered using the DELVE survey and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer W1–W2 colors. Follow-up direct imaging carried out with the Magellan Baade 6.5 m telescope is analyzed, as is spectroscopy from the 2.5 m Nordic Optical Telescope. The lensed image configuration is kite-like, with the major axis of the lensing galaxy along the symmetry axis of the kite, and with the faintest image at its tail. Redward of 6000 Å, the tail image is strongly blended with the lensing galaxy. The Sloan g direct imaging carried out with Magellan permits deblending. As the lensed image configuration is nearly circular, simple models give high predicted magnifications for all four images. The source’s narrow emission lines at redshift z = 2.225 and low intrinsic luminosity qualify it as a type 2 active galactic nucleus. The Magellan image shows a substantial residual that suggests a second lensing galaxy.
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC) are the Milky Way's nearest interacting galaxy pair, offering a unique laboratory for studying tidal effects on galactic disks. Despite extensive survey efforts, the three-dimensional geometry of the Clouds, particularly the putative warp of the LMC, remains poorly constrained due to incompleteness in their crowded centers and the low stellar density of their peripheries, which demand wide-field coverage. Using red-clump (RC) stars as standard candles, corrected for age- and metallicity-dependent population effects with empirically calibrated color-magnitude relations and spatially resolved star-formation histories, we construct the most detailed distance map of the Magellanic System to date. Based on ∼2.3 million RC stars from Gaia DR3 combined with modern reddening maps, we measure median heliocentric distances of 50.62 ± 2.32 kpc for the LMC (to ∼23^∘) and 60.75 ± 2.85 kpc for the SMC (to ∼12^∘). The maps reveal substructures including the LMC Northern Arm, southern hooks, the Magellanic Bridge, and SMC peripheral over-densities, with refreshed distance estimates. Fitting the LMC disk within 7^∘ yields a global inclination of i = 25.32^∘± 0.10^∘ and line-of-nodes position angle of θ= 142.34^∘± 0.21^∘. Most strikingly, we find the LMC periphery is warped azimuthally into a U-shaped structure reaching vertical amplitudes of ∼7 kpc at radii of ∼15 kpc. We interpret this warp as a tidal response to the most recent close passage of the SMC ∼300 Myr ago, providing new constraints on the orbital history and dynamical evolution of the Magellanic Clouds.