Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-jbqgn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-25T01:38:57.264Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

UCDs in the Coma Cluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 July 2011

M. Koleva ,
Ph. Prugniel ,
I. Vauglin ,
K. Chiboucas ,
R. Brent Tully ,
R.O. Marzke ,
S. Phillipps ,
J. Price ,
E.W. Peng  and
N. Trentham
...Show all authors
K. Chiboucas*
Affiliation:
Gemini Observatory, 670 N. A’ohoku Pl, Hilo, HI 96720, PUSA
R. Brent Tully
Affiliation:
Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawaii, 2680 Woodlawn Dr., Honolulu, HI 96821, USA
R.O. Marzke
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, San Francisco State University, San Francisco, CA 94132, USA
S. Phillipps
Affiliation:
Astrophysics Group, H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
J. Price
Affiliation:
Astrophysics Group, H.H. Wills Physics Laboratory, University of Bristol, Tyndall Avenue, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
E.W. Peng
Affiliation:
Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
N. Trentham
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA, UK
D. Carter
Affiliation:
Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, Twelve Quays House, Egerton Wharf, Birkenhead CH411LD, UK
D. Hammer
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
*
e-mail: kchibouc@gemini.edu
Get access

Abstract

As part of the HST/ACS Coma Cluster Treasury Survey, we have undertaken a Keck/LRIS spectroscopic campaign to determine membership for faint dwarf galaxies. In the process, we discovered a population of Ultra Compact Dwarf galaxies (UCDs) in the core region of the Coma Cluster. At the distance of Coma, UCDs are expected to have angular sizes 0.01 < Re < 0.2 arcsec. With ACS imaging, we can resolve all but the smallest ones with careful fitting. Candidate UCDs were chosen based on magnitude, color, and degree of resolution. We spectroscopically confirm 27 objects as bona fide UCD members of the Coma Cluster, a 60% success rate for objects targeted with MR < −12. We attribute the high success rate in part to the high resolution of HST data and to an apparent large population of UCDs in Coma. We find that the UCDs tend to be strongly clustered around giant galaxies, at least in the core region of the cluster, and have a distribution and colors that are similar to globular clusters. These findings suggest that UCDs are not independent galaxies, but rather have a star cluster origin.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Astronomical Society Publications Series , Volume 48: CRAL-2010 A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies , 2011 , pp. 225 - 230
Copyright
© EAS, EDP Sciences, 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bekki, K., Couch, W.J., Drinkwater, M.J., & Shioya, Y., 2003, MNRAS, 344, 399CrossRef
Carter, D., et al., 2008, ApJS, 176, 424CrossRef
Chilingarian, I.V., Cayatte, V., & Bergond, G., 2008, MNRAS, 390, 906CrossRef
Dabringhausen, J., Kroupa, P., & Baumgardt, H., 2009, MNRAS, 394, 1529CrossRef
Drinkwater, M.J., Jones, J.B., Gregg, M.D., & Phillipps, S., 2000, Publ. Astron. Soc. Austr., 17, 227CrossRef
Fellhauer, M., & Kroupa, P., 2002, MNRAS, 330, 642CrossRef
Hasegan, M., et al., 2005, ApJ, 627, 203CrossRef
Murray, N., 2009, ApJ, 691, 946CrossRef
Peng, E., et al., 2010, in preparation
Price, J., et al., 2009, MNRAS, 397, 1816CrossRef
Schiavon, R.P., 2007, ApJS, 171, 146CrossRef
Wehner, E.M.H., Harris, W.E., Whitmore, B.C., Rothberg, B., & Woodley, K.A., 2008, ApJ, 681, 1233CrossRef