TY - JOUR
T1 - SMASH 1
T2 - A VERY FAINT GLOBULAR CLUSTER DISRUPTING in the OUTER REACHES of the LMC?
AU - Martin, Nicolas F.
AU - Jungbluth, Valentin
AU - Nidever, David L.
AU - Bell, Eric F.
AU - Besla, Gurtina
AU - Blum, Robert D.
AU - Cioni, Maria Rosa L.
AU - Conn, Blair C.
AU - Kaleida, Catherine C.
AU - Gallart, Carme
AU - Jin, Shoko
AU - Majewski, Steven R.
AU - Martinez-Delgado, David
AU - Monachesi, Antonela
AU - Muñoz, Ricardo R.
AU - Noël, Noelia E.D.
AU - Olsen, Knut
AU - Stringfellow, Guy S.
AU - Van Der Marel, Roeland P.
AU - Vivas, A. Katherina
AU - Walker, Alistair R.
AU - Zaritsky, Dennis
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2016. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
PY - 2016/10/10
Y1 - 2016/10/10
N2 - We present the discovery of a very faint stellar system, SMASH 1, that is potentially a satellite of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Found within the Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History (SMASH), SMASH 1 is a compact (rh=9.1-3.4 +5.9pc) and very low luminosity (Mv=-1.0±0.9,Lv=102.3±0.4L⊙ ) stellar system that is revealed by its sparsely populated main sequence and a handful of red giant branch candidate member stars. The photometric properties of these stars are compatible with a metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.2) and old (13 Gyr) isochrone located at a distance modulus of ∼18.8, i.e., a distance of . Situated at 11.°3 from the LMC in projection, its three-dimensional distance from the Cloud is 13 kpc, consistent with a connection to the LMC, whose tidal radius is at least . Although the nature of SMASH 1 remains uncertain, its compactness favors it being a stellar cluster and hence dark-matter free. If this is the case, its dynamical tidal radius is only ≲19 pc at this distance from the LMC, and smaller than the system's extent on the sky. Its low luminosity and apparent high ellipticity (ϵ=0.62-0.21 +0.17) with its major axis pointing toward the LMC may well be the tell-tale sign of its imminent tidal demise.
AB - We present the discovery of a very faint stellar system, SMASH 1, that is potentially a satellite of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Found within the Survey of the Magellanic Stellar History (SMASH), SMASH 1 is a compact (rh=9.1-3.4 +5.9pc) and very low luminosity (Mv=-1.0±0.9,Lv=102.3±0.4L⊙ ) stellar system that is revealed by its sparsely populated main sequence and a handful of red giant branch candidate member stars. The photometric properties of these stars are compatible with a metal-poor ([Fe/H]=-2.2) and old (13 Gyr) isochrone located at a distance modulus of ∼18.8, i.e., a distance of . Situated at 11.°3 from the LMC in projection, its three-dimensional distance from the Cloud is 13 kpc, consistent with a connection to the LMC, whose tidal radius is at least . Although the nature of SMASH 1 remains uncertain, its compactness favors it being a stellar cluster and hence dark-matter free. If this is the case, its dynamical tidal radius is only ≲19 pc at this distance from the LMC, and smaller than the system's extent on the sky. Its low luminosity and apparent high ellipticity (ϵ=0.62-0.21 +0.17) with its major axis pointing toward the LMC may well be the tell-tale sign of its imminent tidal demise.
KW - Local Group
KW - Magellanic Clouds
KW - globular clusters: individual: (SMASH 1)
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U2 - 10.3847/2041-8205/830/1/L10
DO - 10.3847/2041-8205/830/1/L10
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84991678528
SN - 2041-8205
VL - 830
JO - Astrophysical Journal Letters
JF - Astrophysical Journal Letters
IS - 1
M1 - L10
ER -