The Dog on the Ship: The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy as an outlying part of the Argo star system

Rocha-Pinto, HJ; Majewski, SR; Skrutskie, MF; Patterson, RJ; Nakanishi, H; Munoz, RR; Sofue, Y

Abstract

Overdensities in the distribution of low-latitude, 2MASS giant stars are revealed by systematically peeling away from sky maps the bulk of the giant stars conforming to "isotropic" density laws generally accounting for known Milky Way components. This procedure, combined with a higher resolution treatment of the sky density of both giants and dust, allows us to probe to lower Galactic latitudes than previous 2MASS giant star studies. While the results show the swath of excess giants previously associated with the Monoceros ring system in the second and third Galactic quadrants at distances of 6-20 kpc, we also find a several times larger overdensity of giants in the same distance range concentrated in the direction of the ancient constellation Argo. Isodensity contours of the large structure suggest that it is highly elongated and inclined by about 3 degrees to the disk, although details of the structure-including the actual location of highest density, overall extent, true shape-and its origin remain unknown because only a fraction of it lies outside highly dust-obscured, low-latitude regions. Nevertheless, our results suggest that the 2MASS M giant overdensity previously claimed to represent the core of a dwarf galaxy in Canis Major (l similar to 240 degrees) is an artifact of a dust extinction window opening to the overall density rise l similar to 240 degrees to the more significant Argo structure centered at larger longitude (l similar to 290 degrees +/- 10 degrees, b similar to -4 degrees +/- 2 degrees).

Más información

Título según WOS: ID WOS:000236360600010 Not found in local WOS DB
Título de la Revista: ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
Volumen: 640
Número: 2
Editorial: IOP PUBLISHING LTD
Fecha de publicación: 2006
Página de inicio: L147
Página final: L150
DOI:

10.1086/503555

Notas: ISI