An isolated compact galaxy triplet

We report the discovery of an isolated compact galaxy triplet SDSS J084843.45+164417.3, which is first detected by the LAMOST spectral survey and then confirmed by a spectroscopic observation of the BFOSC mounted on the 2.16 meter telescope located at Xinglong Station, which is administered by National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences. It is found that this triplet is an isolated and extremely compact system, which has an aligned configuration and very small radial velocity dispersion. The member galaxies have similar colors and show marginal star formation activities. These results support the opinion that the compact triplets are well-evolved systems rather than hierarchically forming structures. This serendipitous discovery reveals the limitations of fiber spectral redshift surveys in studying such a compact system, and demonstrates the necessity of additional observations to complete the current redshift sample.