LAMOST 1: A Disrupted Satellite in the Constellation Draco
Abstract
Using Large Sky Area Multi-object Fibre Spectroscopic Telescope spectroscopic data, we find a strong signal of a comoving group of stars in the constellation of Draco. The group, observed near the apocenter of its orbit, is 2.6 kpc from the Sun with a metallicity of -0.64 dex. The system is observed as a streaming population of unknown provenance with mass of about 2.1+/- 0.4\cdot {10}4 {M}⊙ and brightness of about {M}V∼ -3.6. Its high metallicity, diffuse physical structure, and eccentric orbit may indicate that the progenitor satellite was a globular cluster rather than a dwarf galaxy or an open cluster.
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2016
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2041-8205/816/1/L2
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1512.05090
- Bibcode:
- 2016ApJ...816L...2V
- Keywords:
-
- galaxies: star clusters: general;
- Galaxy: kinematics and dynamics;
- galaxy: structure;
- techniques: spectroscopic;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- 6 pages, 4 Figures, 1 Table, Accepted to ApJL