Photometry of the Stellar Tidal Stream in the Halo of Messier 63
Taylor S. Chonis, David Martinez-Delgado, R. Jay Gabany, Steven R. Majewski, Gary J. Hill, Ignacio Trujillo
备注：
5 pages, 2 figures, "New Horizons in Astronomy", Proceedings of the Frank N. Bash Symposium 2011, held October 9-11, 2011. Austin, Texas, USA; Published online at http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=149, id.23
We present surface photometry of a giant, low surface brightness stellar arc in the halo of the nearby spiral galaxy M63 (NGC 5055) that is consistent with being a part of a stellar stream resulting from the disruption of a dwarf satellite galaxy. Using the stream's "great-circle" morphology and its photometric properties, we estimate that the stream originates from the accretion of a 10^8 M_sun satellite in the last few Gyr. The B-R color of the stream's stars is consistent with Local Group dwarfs and is also similar to the outer regions of M63's disk and stellar halo within our measurement uncertainties. Additionally, we identify several other low surface brightness features that may be related to the galaxy's complex spiral structure or may be tidal debris associated with the disruption of the galaxy's outer stellar disk as a result of the accretion event. Using our deep, panoramic optical view of M63 with additional existing multiwavelength data, we describe the possible effects of such an accretion event in the larger picture of the parent galaxy.
What do we see when we look at a nearby, well-resolved galaxy? Thousands of individual sources are detected in multiband imaging observations of even a fraction of a nearby galaxy, and characterizing those sources is a complex process. This work analyses a ten-band photometric catalogue of nearly 70 000 point sources in a 7.3 square arcmin region of the nearby spiral galaxy Messier 83, made as part of the Early Release Science programme with the Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3. Colour distributions were measured for both broad-band and broad-and-narrow-band colours; colours made f…
Globular clusters are prone to lose stars while moving around the Milky Way. These stars escape the clusters and are distributed throughout extended envelopes or tidal tails. However, such extra-tidal structures are not observed in all globular clusters, and yet there is no structural or dynamical parameters that can predict their presence or absence. NGC\,6864 is an outer halo globular cluster with reported no observed tidal tails. We used Dark Energy Camera (DECam) photometry reaching $\sim$ 4 mag underneath its main sequence turnoff to confidently detect an extra-tidal envelope, and stellar…
DELVE-ing into the Milky Way's Globular Clusters: Assessing extra-tidal features in NGC 5897, NGC 7492, and testing detectability with deeper photometry
We recently found the globular cluster (GC) EXT8 in M31 to have an extremely low metallicity of [Fe/H]=-2.91+/-0.04 using high-resolution spectroscopy. Here we present a colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) for EXT8, obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Compared with the CMDs of metal-poor Galactic GCs, we find that the upper red giant branch (RGB) of EXT8 is about 0.03 mag bluer in F606W-F814W and slightly steeper, as expected from the low spectroscopic metallicity. The observed colour spread on the upper RGB is consistent with being caused entirely by the meas…
Stars that escape globular clusters form tidal tails that are predominantly shaped by the global distribution of mass in the Galaxy, but also preserve a historical record of small-scale perturbations. Using deep $grz$ photometry from DECaLS, we present highly probable members of the tidal tails associated with the disrupting globular cluster Palomar 5. These data yield the cleanest view of a stellar stream beyond $\sim20\,\rm kpc$ and reveal: (1) a wide, low surface-brightness extension of the leading tail; (2) significant density variations along the stream; and (3) sharp changes in the direc…
Using photometry and proper motions from Gaia Data Release 2, we detect a 50 degree-long stream of about 70 stars extending westward from the halo globular cluster M5. Based on the similarities in distance, proper motions, inferred color-magnitude distribution, and trajectory, we identify this stream as the trailing tidal tail of M5. While the surface density of stars is very low (~1.5 stars per square degree, or approximately 35 magnitudes per square arcsecond), selecting only stars having proper motions consistent with the orbit of the cluster yield a detection significance ~10 sigma. While …
The peripheral regions of globular clusters (GCs) are extremely challenging to study due to their low surface brightness nature and the dominance of Milky Way contaminant populations along their sightlines. We have developed a probabilistic approach to this problem through utilising a mixture model in spatial and proper motion space which separately models the cluster, extra-tidal and contaminant stellar populations. We demonstrate the efficacy of our method through application to Gaia EDR3 photometry and astrometry in the direction of NGC 5139 ($ω$ Cen), a highly challenging target on account…
We present results on the extra-tidal features of the Milky Way globular cluster NGC 7099, using deep gr photometry obtained with the Dark Energy Camera (DECam). We reached nearly 6 mag below the cluster Main Sequence (MS) turnoff, so that we dealt with the most suitable candidates to trace any stellar structure located beyond the cluster tidal radius. From star-by-star reddening corrected color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) we defined four adjacent strips along the MS, for which we built the respective stellar density maps, once the contamination by field stars was properly removed. The resulting…
We present deep stellar photometry of the Boötes I dwarf spheroidal galaxy in g and i band filters, taken with the Dark Energy Camera at Cerro Tololo in Chile. Our analysis reveals a large, extended region of stellar substructure surrounding the dwarf, as well as a distinct over-density encroaching on its tidal radius. A radial profile of the Boötes I stellar distribution shows a break radius indicating the presence of extra-tidal stars. These observations strongly suggest that Boötes I is experiencing tidal disruption, although not as extreme as that exhibited by the Hercules dwarf spheroidal…
Using photometry and proper motions from Gaia Early Data Release 3, we detect a 45 degree-long trailing stellar debris stream associated with the old, metal-poor globular cluster NGC 7089. With a width on the order of 100 pc, the extended stream appears to be as dynamically cold as the coldest known streams found to date. There is some evidence for an extended leading tail extending between 28 and 37 degrees from the cluster, though the greater distance of this tail, combined with proper motions that are virtually indistinguishable from those of foreground stars, make the detection much less c…
We use {\it Gaia} DR2 photometry and proper motions to search for the hypothetical tidal tails of the Galactic globular cluster E\,3. Using a modified version of a classical decontamination procedure, we are able to identify the presence of an extended structure emerging from the cluster up to $r \sim 1$\,deg from its center, thus suggesting that this poorly studied cluster is undergoing a tidal disruption process. These low surface-brightness structures are aligned with the direction to the Galactic center, as expected for a cluster close to its perigalacticon. Different scenarios to explain …
Time domain optical surveys have discovered roughly a dozen candidate stellar tidal disruption flares in the last five years, and future surveys like the {\it Large Synoptic Survey Telescope} will likely find hundreds to thousands more. These tidal disruption events (TDEs) present an interesting puzzle: a majority of the current TDE sample is hosted by rare post-starburst galaxies, and tens of percent are hosted in even rarer E+A galaxies, which make up $\sim 0.1\%$ of all galaxies in the local universe. E+As are therefore overrepresented among TDE hosts by 1-2 orders of magnitude, a discrepan…
We have explored the properties of a peculiar object detected in deep optical imaging and located at the tip of an HI tail emerging from Hickson Compact Group 16. Using multiband photometry from infrared to ultraviolet, we were able to constrain its stellar age to 58$^{+22}_{-9}$ Myr with a rather high metallicity of [Fe/H] = $-$0.16$^{+0.43}_{-0.41}$ for its stellar mass of M$_\star$ = 4.2$\times$10$^6$ M$_\odot$, a typical signature of tidal dwarf galaxies. The structural properties of this object are similar to those of diffuse galaxies, with a round and featureless morphology, a large effe…
No Convincing Evidence for Tidal Binary Clusters in the Galaxy
Facultad de Ciencias, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB)（巴塞罗那自治大学理学院）；Institute of Graduate Studies In Sciences, İstanbul University（伊斯坦布尔大学高等研究院）
Contrastive learning of extragalactic stellar streams. Sculpting a latent space of representations with DES DR2 photometry
Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, University of Groningen（格罗宁根大学卡普坦天文研究所）；Leiden Observatory, Leiden University（莱顿大学莱顿天文台）；Departamento de Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica, Universidad Complutense de Madrid（马德里康普顿斯大学地球与天体物理系）
The Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) at the Vera C. Rubin Observatory will discover tens of thousands of extragalactic transients each night. The high volume of alerts demands immediate classification of transient types in order to prioritize observational follow-ups before events fade away. We use host galaxy features to classify transients, thereby providing classification upon discovery. In contrast to past work that focused on distinguishing Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae (SNe) using host galaxy features that are not always accessible (e.g., morphology), we determine the relati…
We have derived from VIMOS spectroscopy the radial velocities for a sample of 71 stars selected from CFHT/Megacam photometry around the Galactic globular cluster NGC7492. In the resulting velocity distribution, it is possible to distinguish two relevant non-Galactic kinematic components along the same line of sight: a group of stars at $\langle{v_{\rm r}}\rangle \sim 125$km s$^{-1}$ which is compatible with the velocity of the old leading arm of the Sagittarius tidal stream, and a larger number of objects at $\langle{v_{\rm r}}\rangle \sim -110$km s$^{-1}$ that might be identified as members o…
This work is part of a series of papers devoted to investigate the evolution of cluster galaxies during their infall. In the present article we imaged in NIR a selected sample of galaxies through- out the massive cluster Abell 85 (z = 0.055). We obtained (JHK) photometry for 68 objects, reaching 1 mag/arcsec^2 deeper than 2MASS. We use these images to unveil asymmetries in the outskirts of a sample of bright galaxies and develop a new asymmetry index, alpha_An, which allows to quantify the degree of disruption by the relative area occupied by the tidal features on the plane of the sky. We meas…
We use photometry from the DECam Legacy Survey to detect candidate tidal tails extending ~5 deg on either side of the Palomar 13 globular cluster. The tails are aligned with the proper motion of Palomar 13 and are consistent with its old, metal-poor stellar population. We identify three RR Lyrae stars that are plausibly associated with the tails, in addition to four previously known in the cluster. From these RR Lyrae stars, we find that the mean distance to the cluster and tails is $23.6 \pm 0.2$ kpc and estimate the total (initial) luminosity of the cluster to be $L_V=5.1^{+9.7}_{-3.4}\times…
We report the discovery of NGC 253-dw2, a dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy candidate undergoing tidal disruption around a nearby spiral galaxy, NGC 253 in the Sculptor group: the first such event identified beyond the Local Group. The dwarf was found using small-aperture amateur telescopes, and followed up with Suprime-Cam on the 8 m Subaru Telescope in order to resolve its brightest stars. Using g- and R_c-band photometry, we detect a red giant branch consistent with an old, metal-poor stellar population at a distance of ~ 3.5 Mpc. From the distribution of likely member stars, we infer a highly…
Establishing the spatial extents and the nature of the outer stellar populations of dwarf galaxies are necessary ingredients for the determination of their total masses, current dynamical states and past evolution. We here describe our investigation of the outer stellar content of the Boötes I ultra-faint dwarf galaxy, a satellite of the Milky Way Galaxy. We identify candidate member blue horizontal branch and blue straggler stars of Boötes I, both tracers of the underlying ancient stellar population, using a combination of multi-band Pan-STARRS photometry and Gaia astrometry. We find a total …
Spatial Property of Multiple Metallic Populations in the Tidal Stream of ω Centauri
Sun Yat-sen University（中山大学）；CSST Science Center for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area（CSST粤港澳大湾区科学中心）；Instituto de Astronomía, Universidad Católica del Norte（北方天主教大学天文学研究所）
Subaru/HSC NB395 view of NGC 5466: metallicity, mass function, and the nature of its tidal stream
National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（日本国立天文台）；The Institute of Statistical Mathematics（统计数学研究所）；Hosei University（法政大学）；The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)（高级研究院（SOKENDAI））；Subaru Telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan（昴望远镜，日本国立天文台）；Institute for Astronomy, University of Edinburgh（爱丁堡大学天文学研究所）；Kitami Institute of Technology（北见工业大学）
We present the stellar population, using {\it Gaia}\,DR2 parallax, kinematics, and photometry, of the young ($\sim 100$~Myr), nearby ($\sim 230$~pc) open cluster, Blanco1. A total of 644 member candidates are identified via the unsupervised machine learning method \textsc{StarGO} to find the clustering in the 5-dimensional position and proper motion parameter ($X$, $Y$, $Z$, $μ_α\cosδ$, $μ_δ$) space. Within the tidal radius of $10.0 \pm 0.3$~pc, there are 488 member candidates, 3 times more than those outside. A leading tail and a trailing tail, each of 50--60~pc in the Galactic plane, are fou…
We constructed for the first time a stellar density profile of 47 Tucanae (47 Tuc) out of $\sim$ 5.5 times its tidal radius ($r_t$) using high-quality deep $BV$ photometry. After carefully considering the influence of photometric errors, and Milky Way and Small Magellanic Cloud composite stellar population contamination, we found that the cluster stellar density profile reaches a nearly constant value from $\sim$ 1.7$r_t$ outwards, which does not depend on the direction from the cluster's center considered. These results visibly contrast with recent distinct theoretical predictions on the exis…
A nuclear transient detected in a post-starburst galaxy or other quiescent galaxy with strong Balmer absorption is likely to be a Tidal Disruption Event (TDE). Identifying such galaxies within the planned survey footprint of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)---before a transient is detected---will make TDE classification immediate and follow-up more efficient. Unfortunately, spectra for identifying most such galaxies are unavailable, and simple photometric selection is ineffective; cutting on "green valley" UV/optical/IR colors produces samples that are highly contaminated and incompl…
In this study, we characterized 16 objects previously classified as faint or low contrast Galactic open clusters (OCs). We employed parameters associated to the OCs dynamical evolution: core ($r_c$), tidal ($r_t$) and half-mass ($r_{hm}$) radii, age and crossing time ($t_{cr}$). Relations among these parameters were exploited to draw some evolutionary connections. We also included 11 OCs with previous characterizations to provide wider coverage of the parameters space. The investigated sample spans a considerable range in age (log (t/yr) ~7.0 - 9.7) and Galactocentric distance ($R_G$ ~ 6 - 11 …
