Bibcode
Longeard, Nicolas; Martin, Nicolas; Starkenburg, Else; Ibata, Rodrigo A.; Collins, Michelle L. M.; Laevens, Benjamin P. M.; Mackey, Dougal; Rich, R. Michael; Aguado, David S.; Arentsen, Anke; Jablonka, Pascale; González Hernández, J. I.; Navarro, Julio F.; Sánchez-Janssen, Rubén
Bibliographical reference
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
Advertised on:
1
2020
Citations
35
Refereed citations
33
Description
We present an extensive study of the Sagittarius II (Sgr II) stellar system using MegaCam g and i photometry, narrow-band, metallicity-sensitive calcium H&K doublet photometry and Keck II/DEIMOS multiobject spectroscopy. We derive and refine the Sgr II structural and stellar properties inferred at the time of its discovery. The colour-magnitude diagram implies Sgr II is old (12.0 ± 0.5 Gyr) and metal poor. The CaHK photometry confirms the metal-poor nature of the satellite ([Fe/H] CaHK = -2.32 ± 0.04 dex) and suggests that Sgr II hosts more than one single stellar population (σ _[FeH]^CaHK = 0.11^{+0.05}_{-0.03} dex). Using the Ca infrared triplet measured from our highest signal-to-noise spectra, we confirm the metallicity and dispersion inferred from the Pristine photometric metallicities ([Fe/H]spectro = -2.23 ± 0.05 dex, σ _[Fe/H]^spectro = 0.10 ^{+0.06}_{-0.04} dex). The velocity dispersion of the system is found to be σ v = 2.7^{+1.3}_{-1.0} { km s^{-1}} after excluding two potential binary stars. Sgr II's metallicity and absolute magnitude (MV = -5.7 ± 0.1 mag) place the system on the luminosity-metallicity relation of the Milky Way dwarf galaxies despite its small size. The low but resolved metallicity and velocity dispersions paint the picture of a slightly dark-matter-dominated satellite (M/L = 23.0^{+32.8}_{-23.0} M☉ L^{-1}_{☉ }). Furthermore, using the Gaia Data Release 2, we constrain the orbit of the satellite and find an apocentre of 118.4 ^{+28.4}_{-23.7} { kpc} and a pericentre of 54.8 ^{+3.3}_{-6.1} { kpc}. The orbit of Sgr II is consistent with the trailing arm of the Sgr stream and indicates that it is possibly a satellite of the Sgr dSph that was tidally stripped from the dwarf's influence.