TY - JOUR
T1 - A second shell in the fornax dSph galaxy
AU - Coleman, M. G.
AU - Da Costa, G. S.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - In the search for tidal structure in Galactic satellite systems, we have conducted a photometric survey over a 10 deg2 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.
AB - In the search for tidal structure in Galactic satellite systems, we have conducted a photometric survey over a 10 deg2 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.
KW - Galaxies: dwarf
KW - Galaxies: individual (Fornax)
KW - Galaxies: interactions
KW - Galaxies: photometry
KW - Galaxies: stellar content
KW - Galaxy: halo
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=32444437251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1071/AS04067
DO - 10.1071/AS04067
M3 - Article
SN - 1323-3580
VL - 22
SP - 162
EP - 165
JO - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
JF - Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia
IS - 2
ER -