Tucana B: A Potentially Isolated and Quenched Ultra-faint Dwarf Galaxy at D ≈ 1.4 Mpc* * This paper includes data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

David J. Sand, Burçin Mutlu-Pakdil, Michael G. Jones, Ananthan Karunakaran, Feige Wang, Jinyi Yang, Anirudh Chiti, Paul Bennet, Denija Crnojević, Kristine Spekkens

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34 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the discovery of Tucana B, an isolated ultra-faint dwarf galaxy at a distance of D = 1.4 Mpc. Tucana B was found during a search for ultra-faint satellite companions to the known dwarfs in the outskirts of the Local Group, although its sky position and distance indicate the nearest galaxy to be ∼500 kpc distant. Deep ground-based imaging resolves Tucana B into stars, and it displays a sparse red giant branch consistent with an old, metal-poor stellar population analogous to that seen in the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way, albeit at fainter apparent magnitudes. Tucana B has a half-light radius of 80 ± 40 pc and an absolute magnitude of M V = − 6.9 − 0.6 + 0.5 mag ( L V = ( 5 − 2 + 4 ) × 10 4 L ), which is again comparable to the Milky Way’s ultra-faint satellites. There is no evidence for a population of young stars, either in the optical color-magnitude diagram or in GALEX archival ultraviolet imaging, with the GALEX data indicating log ( SFR NUV / M ⊙ yr − 1 ) < − 5.4 for star formation on ≲100 Myr timescales. Given its isolation and physical properties, Tucana B may be a definitive example of an ultra-faint dwarf that has been quenched by reionization, providing strong confirmation of a key driver of galaxy formation and evolution at the lowest mass scales. It also signals a new era of ultra-faint dwarf galaxy discovery at the extreme edges of the Local Group.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL17
JournalAstrophysical Journal Letters
Volume935
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 1 2022

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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