Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope

Michael A. Pahre; Jeremy R. Mould; Alan Dressler; Jon A. Holtzman; Alan M. Watson; John S. Gallagher; Gilda E. Ballester; Christopher J. Burrows; Stefano Casertano; John T. Clarke; David Crisp; Richard E. Griffiths; Carl J. Grillmair; J. Jeff Hester; John G. Hoessel; Paul A. Scowen; Karl R. Stapelfeldt; John T. Trauger; James A. Westphal

doi:10.1086/306998

Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope

Michael A. Pahre^*, Jeremy R. Mould, Alan Dressler, Jon A. Holtzman, Alan M. Watson, John S. Gallagher, Gilda E. Ballester, Christopher J. Burrows, Stefano Casertano, John T. Clarke, David Crisp, Richard E. Griffiths, Carl J. Grillmair, J. Jeff Hester, John G. Hoessel, Paul A. Scowen, Karl R. Stapelfeldt, John T. Trauger, James A. Westphal

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

19 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) have been detected for three elliptical galaxies - NGC 3379 in the Leo group, NGC 4406 in the Virgo cluster, and NGC 4373 in the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster -using marginally sampled, deep images taken with the Planetary Camera of the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The power spectrum of the fluctuations image is well fitted by an empirical model of the point-spread function constructed using point sources identified in the field. Comparison with high-quality ground-based observations of all three galaxies show excellent agreement in the measurement of the distance modulus over a substantial range in distance. This demonstrates the capability of the Planetary Camera of WFPC2 to measure distances using the SBF technique despite the marginal sampling and small spatial coverage of the images. The residual variance due to unresolved sources in all three galaxies is only 2%-5% of the detected fluctuations signal, which confirms the advantage of HST imaging in minimizing the uncertainty of this SBF correction. Extensive consistency checks, including an independent SBF analysis using an alternate software package, suggest that our internal uncertainties are <0.02 mag. The fluctuations magnitude for NGC 4373 is I_F814W = 31.31 ± 0.05 mag, corresponding to a distance modulus of (m - M)₀ = 32.99 ± 0.11. This implies a peculiar velocity for this galaxy of 415 ± 330 km s^-1, which is smaller than derived from the D_n-σ relation.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	79-88
Number of pages	10
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	515
Issue number	1 PART 1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1086/306998
Publication status	Published - 10 Apr 1999

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Pahre, M. A., Mould, J. R., Dressler, A., Holtzman, J. A., Watson, A. M., Gallagher, J. S., Ballester, G. E., Burrows, C. J., Casertano, S., Clarke, J. T., Crisp, D., Griffiths, R. E., Grillmair, C. J., Hester, J. J., Hoessel, J. G., Scowen, P. A., Stapelfeldt, K. R., Trauger, J. T., & Westphal, J. A. (1999). Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope. Astrophysical Journal, 515(1 PART 1), 79-88. https://doi.org/10.1086/306998

@article{8b1a8edc620f46e2aa2168b2d99be658,

title = "Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope",

abstract = "Surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) have been detected for three elliptical galaxies - NGC 3379 in the Leo group, NGC 4406 in the Virgo cluster, and NGC 4373 in the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster -using marginally sampled, deep images taken with the Planetary Camera of the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The power spectrum of the fluctuations image is well fitted by an empirical model of the point-spread function constructed using point sources identified in the field. Comparison with high-quality ground-based observations of all three galaxies show excellent agreement in the measurement of the distance modulus over a substantial range in distance. This demonstrates the capability of the Planetary Camera of WFPC2 to measure distances using the SBF technique despite the marginal sampling and small spatial coverage of the images. The residual variance due to unresolved sources in all three galaxies is only 2%-5% of the detected fluctuations signal, which confirms the advantage of HST imaging in minimizing the uncertainty of this SBF correction. Extensive consistency checks, including an independent SBF analysis using an alternate software package, suggest that our internal uncertainties are <0.02 mag. The fluctuations magnitude for NGC 4373 is IF814W = 31.31 ± 0.05 mag, corresponding to a distance modulus of (m - M)0 = 32.99 ± 0.11. This implies a peculiar velocity for this galaxy of 415 ± 330 km s-1, which is smaller than derived from the Dn-σ relation.",

keywords = "Galaxies: distances and redshifts, Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD, Galaxies: individual (NGC 4373), Galaxies: stellar content",

author = "Pahre, {Michael A.} and Mould, {Jeremy R.} and Alan Dressler and Holtzman, {Jon A.} and Watson, {Alan M.} and Gallagher, {John S.} and Ballester, {Gilda E.} and Burrows, {Christopher J.} and Stefano Casertano and Clarke, {John T.} and David Crisp and Griffiths, {Richard E.} and Grillmair, {Carl J.} and Hester, {J. Jeff} and Hoessel, {John G.} and Scowen, {Paul A.} and Stapelfeldt, {Karl R.} and Trauger, {John T.} and Westphal, {James A.}",

year = "1999",

month = apr,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1086/306998",

language = "English",

volume = "515",

pages = "79--88",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

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Pahre, MA, Mould, JR, Dressler, A, Holtzman, JA, Watson, AM, Gallagher, JS, Ballester, GE, Burrows, CJ, Casertano, S, Clarke, JT, Crisp, D, Griffiths, RE, Grillmair, CJ, Hester, JJ, Hoessel, JG, Scowen, PA, Stapelfeldt, KR, Trauger, JT & Westphal, JA 1999, 'Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope', Astrophysical Journal, vol. 515, no. 1 PART 1, pp. 79-88. https://doi.org/10.1086/306998

TY - JOUR

T1 - Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope

AU - Pahre, Michael A.

AU - Mould, Jeremy R.

AU - Dressler, Alan

AU - Holtzman, Jon A.

AU - Watson, Alan M.

AU - Gallagher, John S.

AU - Ballester, Gilda E.

AU - Burrows, Christopher J.

AU - Casertano, Stefano

AU - Clarke, John T.

AU - Crisp, David

AU - Griffiths, Richard E.

AU - Grillmair, Carl J.

AU - Hester, J. Jeff

AU - Hoessel, John G.

AU - Scowen, Paul A.

AU - Stapelfeldt, Karl R.

AU - Trauger, John T.

AU - Westphal, James A.

PY - 1999/4/10

Y1 - 1999/4/10

N2 - Surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) have been detected for three elliptical galaxies - NGC 3379 in the Leo group, NGC 4406 in the Virgo cluster, and NGC 4373 in the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster -using marginally sampled, deep images taken with the Planetary Camera of the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The power spectrum of the fluctuations image is well fitted by an empirical model of the point-spread function constructed using point sources identified in the field. Comparison with high-quality ground-based observations of all three galaxies show excellent agreement in the measurement of the distance modulus over a substantial range in distance. This demonstrates the capability of the Planetary Camera of WFPC2 to measure distances using the SBF technique despite the marginal sampling and small spatial coverage of the images. The residual variance due to unresolved sources in all three galaxies is only 2%-5% of the detected fluctuations signal, which confirms the advantage of HST imaging in minimizing the uncertainty of this SBF correction. Extensive consistency checks, including an independent SBF analysis using an alternate software package, suggest that our internal uncertainties are <0.02 mag. The fluctuations magnitude for NGC 4373 is IF814W = 31.31 ± 0.05 mag, corresponding to a distance modulus of (m - M)0 = 32.99 ± 0.11. This implies a peculiar velocity for this galaxy of 415 ± 330 km s-1, which is smaller than derived from the Dn-σ relation.

AB - Surface brightness fluctuations (SBF) have been detected for three elliptical galaxies - NGC 3379 in the Leo group, NGC 4406 in the Virgo cluster, and NGC 4373 in the Hydra-Centaurus supercluster -using marginally sampled, deep images taken with the Planetary Camera of the WFPC2 instrument on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The power spectrum of the fluctuations image is well fitted by an empirical model of the point-spread function constructed using point sources identified in the field. Comparison with high-quality ground-based observations of all three galaxies show excellent agreement in the measurement of the distance modulus over a substantial range in distance. This demonstrates the capability of the Planetary Camera of WFPC2 to measure distances using the SBF technique despite the marginal sampling and small spatial coverage of the images. The residual variance due to unresolved sources in all three galaxies is only 2%-5% of the detected fluctuations signal, which confirms the advantage of HST imaging in minimizing the uncertainty of this SBF correction. Extensive consistency checks, including an independent SBF analysis using an alternate software package, suggest that our internal uncertainties are <0.02 mag. The fluctuations magnitude for NGC 4373 is IF814W = 31.31 ± 0.05 mag, corresponding to a distance modulus of (m - M)0 = 32.99 ± 0.11. This implies a peculiar velocity for this galaxy of 415 ± 330 km s-1, which is smaller than derived from the Dn-σ relation.

KW - Galaxies: distances and redshifts

KW - Galaxies: elliptical and lenticular, cD

KW - Galaxies: individual (NGC 4373)

KW - Galaxies: stellar content

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U2 - 10.1086/306998

DO - 10.1086/306998

M3 - Article

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 515

SP - 79

EP - 88

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 1 PART 1

ER -

Detection of surface brightness fluctuations in NGC 4373 using the Hubble Space Telescope

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