Bibcode
DOI
Méndez, René. A.; Costa, Edgardo; Pedreros, Mario H.; Moyano, Maximiliano; Altmann, Martin; Gallart, C.
Bibliographical reference
Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, Volume 122, issue 893, pp.853-875
Advertised on:
7
2010
Citations
11
Refereed citations
11
Description
In this article we present in detail the methodology and the first
results of a ground-based program to determine the absolute proper
motion of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy. The proper motion was
determined using bona fide Fornax star members measured with respect to
a fiducial at-rest background spectroscopically confirmed quasar, QSO
J0240-3434B. Our homogeneous measurements, based on this one quasar
gives a value of
(μcosδ,μ)=(0.64±0.08,-0.01±0.11) mas yr. There
are only two other (astrometric) determinations for the transverse
motion of Fornax: one based on a combination of plates and HST data, and
another (of higher internal precision) based on HST data. We show that
our proper motion errors are similar to those derived from HST
measurements on individual QSOs. We provide evidence that, as far as we
can determine it, our motion is not affected by magnitude, color, or
other potential systematic effects. Last epoch measurements and
reductions are underway for other four quasar fields of this galaxy,
which, when combined, should yield proper motions with a weighted mean
error of ˜50 μas yr, allowing us to place important constraints
on the orbit of Fornax.
Related projects
Milky Way and Nearby Galaxies
The general aim of the project is to research the structure, evolutionary history and formation of galaxies through the study of their resolved stellar populations, both from photometry and spectroscopy. The group research concentrates in the most nearby objects, namely the Local Group galaxies including the Milky Way and M33 under the hypothesis
Martín
López Corredoira