Corvus A: A Low-mass, Isolated Galaxy at 3.5 Mpc
Abstract
We report the discovery of Corvus A, a low-mass, gas-rich galaxy at a distance of approximately 3.5 Mpc, identified in DR10 of the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Imaging Survey during the initial phase of our ongoing SEmi-Automated Machine LEarning Search for Semi-resolved galaxies (SEAMLESS). Jansky Very Large Array observations of Corvus A detect H I line emission at a radial velocity of 523 ± 2 km s‑1. Magellan/Megacam imaging reveals an irregular and complex stellar population with both young and old stars. We detect UV emission in Neil Gehrels Swift observations, indicative of recent star formation. However, there are no signs of H II regions in Hα imaging from Steward Observatory's Kuiper telescope. Based on the Megacam color–magnitude diagram we measure the distance to Corvus A via the tip of the red giant branch standard candle as 3.48 ± 0.24 Mpc. This makes Corvus A remarkably isolated, with no known galaxy within ∼1 Mpc. Based on this distance, we estimate the H I and stellar mass of Corvus A to be
- Publication:
-
The Astrophysical Journal
- Pub Date:
- August 2024
- DOI:
- 10.3847/2041-8213/ad676e
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2407.03393
- Bibcode:
- 2024ApJ...971L..37J
- Keywords:
-
- Dwarf irregular galaxies;
- Galaxy stellar content;
- Galaxy environments;
- Galaxy distances;
- 417;
- 621;
- 2029;
- 590;
- Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies
- E-Print:
- Accepted to ApJL