Bibcode
Durrell, P. R.; Williams, B. F.; Ciardullo, R. B.; Feldmeier, J. J.; Jacoby, G. H.; Sigurdsson, S.; von Hippel, T.; Ferguson, H.; Tanvir, N.; Arnaboldi, M.; Gerhard, O.; Aguerri, A.; Freeman, K.; Vinciguerra, M.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society Meeting 207, #80.04; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 37, p.1297
Advertised on:
12
2005
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We report the discovery of a very low-luminosity (MV -10)
dwarf galaxy in the Virgo Cluster within the ACS field of the VICS
Project (Ciardullo et al.). The galaxy, which is ˜ 1 kpc in
extent, is clearly resolved into stars, and provides us with the first
direct look at the stellar population of a low-luminosity system in a
galaxy cluster. A F606W-F814W color-magnitude diagram of the cluster's
brightest ˜ 250 stars is dominated by a clearly defined red-giant
branch (RGB), which reaches ˜ 1.5 magnitudes down from the RGB
tip. The colors of the RGB stars are suggestive of a very metal-poor
object, and the absolute magnitude of the RGB tip, F814W(VegaMag)
˜ 27.2, confirms that the object is a member of the Cluster. The
size, luminosity, and central surface brightness of this galaxy are
similar to those of typical dSph galaxies in the Local Group.
Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number GO-10131
from the Space Telescope Science Institute.