The Galactic ASKAP (GASKAP) survey science team is undertaking a neutral hydrogen (HI) emission survey of the 21cm line to map the Magellanic Clouds and the Galactic plane with ASKAP.  HI is one of the most abundant components of the interstellar medium (ISM). The study of HI helps us to understand the distribution and conditions needed to facilitate star formation. Understanding the ways in which HI cools and condenses to become molecular hydrogen is a key part of the star formation process.

One of the first areas observed in the Pilot Phase I of the survey was the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). Previous surveys have shown that there is a significant amount of cold material in cloud structures detached from the main body of the galaxy. Buckland-Willis et al. have studied the phase distribution of three distinct structures in the periphery of the SMC to place constraints on the existence and survival of the cold neutral medium (CNM) in the SMC. They find that the ends of two clouds are almost completely CNM dominated, with the third cloud having a uniform CNM distribution along one wall of what is likely a supershell structure. The image above shows column density images of the three clouds produced by integrating the HI emission in each field over the velocity range indicated in each panel. The blue arrows indicate the direction of the dynamical centre of the SMC.