The structure of the Small Magellanic Cloud. II

Multiobject fiber-optic spectroscopic observations are used to obtain system velocities and distances of 61 Cepheids in three 40-deg-diameter fields in the bar of the SMC. The Cepheid distance measurements indicate that the SMC has a depth of about 20 kpc and that the northeastern section of the bar is 10-15 kpc closer than the southern section. Regions in the fields where Cepheids cluster in groups of similar radial velocities and distances are identified which are associated with particular velocity features of the H I maps. The results support the view that the SMC collided with the LMC some 2 x 10 to the 8th years ago. 34 references.