A second shell in the Fornax dSph galaxy

被引:10
作者
Coleman, MG [1 ]
Da Costa, GS [1 ]
机构
[1] Australian Natl Univ, Inst Adv Studies, Res Sch Astron & Astrophys, Weston, ACT 2611, Australia
来源
PUBLICATIONS OF THE ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA | 2005年 / 22卷 / 02期
关键词
galaxies : dwarf; galaxies : individual ( Fornax); galaxies : photometry; galaxies : stellar content; galaxies : interactions; Galaxy : halo;
D O I
10.1071/AS04067
中图分类号
P1 [天文学];
学科分类号
0704 ;
摘要
In the search for tidal structure in Galactic satellite systems, we have conducted a photometric survey over a 10 deg(2) area centred on the Fornax dSph galaxy. The survey was made in two colours, and the resulting colour-magnitude data were used as a mask to select candidate Fornax RGB stars, thereby increasing the contrast of Fornax stars to background sources in the outer regions. Previously, we reported the presence of a shell (age 2 Gyr) located towards the centre of Fornax. In this contribution we reveal a second shell, significantly larger than the first, located 1.3. north-west from the centre of Fornax, outside the nominal tidal radius. Moreover, the distribution of Fornax RGB stars reveals two lobes extending to the spatial limit of our survey, and aligned with the minor axis and with the two shells. These results support the hypothesis of a merger between Fornax and a gas-rich companion approximately 2 Gyr ago.
引用
收藏
页码:162 / 165
页数:4
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