Abstract
We have imaged the recently discovered stellar overdensity located approximately one core radius from the center of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy using the Magellan Clay 6.5 m telescope with the Magellan Instant Camera. Superb seeing conditions allowed us to probe the stellar populations of this overdensity and of a control field within Fornax to a limiting magnitude of R = 26. The color-magnitude diagram of the overdensity field is virtually identical to that of the control field, with the exception of the presence of a population arising from a very short (less than 300 Myr in duration) burst of star formation 1.4 Gyr ago. Coleman et al. have argued that this overdensity might be related to a shell structure in Fornax that was created when Fornax captured a smaller galaxy. Our results are consistent with this model, but we argue that the metallicity of this young component favors a scenario in which the gas was part of Fornax itself.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 912-921 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Astronomical Journal |
Volume | 131 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Feb 2006 |
Keywords
- Galaxies: dwarf
- Galaxies: individual (Fornax dSph)
- Galaxies: stellar content - Local Group Online material: Machine-readable tables
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Astronomy and Astrophysics
- Space and Planetary Science
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BR photometry of Fornax dSph center
Olszewski, E. W. (Creator), Mateo, M. (Creator), Harris, J. (Creator), Walker, M. G. (Creator), Coleman, M. G. (Creator) & Costa, G. S. D. A. (Contributor), Centre de Donnees Strasbourg (CDS), 2007
DOI: 10.26093/cds/vizier.51310912, https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/AJ/131/912
Dataset