Hercules (dwarf galaxy)

Hercules, or Her, is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy situated in the Hercules constellation and discovered in 2006 in data obtained by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.[4] The galaxy is located at a distance of about 140 kpc from the Sun and moves away from the Sun with a velocity of about 45 km/s.[4][5] It is classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph). It has a noticeably elongated (ratio of axes ~ 3:1) shape with a half-light radius of about 350 pc.[4][6][note 1] This elongation may be caused by tidal forces acting from the Milky Way galaxy, meaning that Her is being tidally disrupted now.[3] Her also shows some gradient of velocities across the galaxy's body[7] and is embedded into a faint stellar stream,[3] which also points towards its ongoing tidal disruption.

Not to be confused with Hercules A.
Hercules Dwarf Galaxy[1]
Hercules has an elongated shape.
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationHercules
Right ascension 16h 31m 02s[1]
Declination+12° 47′ 30″[1]
Distance479+26
−23 kly (147+8
−7 kpc),[2]
430+20
−20 kly (133+6
−6 kpc[3])
Apparent magnitude (V)14.7 ± 0.5[4]
Characteristics
TypedSph[4]
Apparent size (V)16.8′[4]
Other designations
Her,[1] PGC 4713560

Her is one of the smallest and faintest satellites of the Milky Way—its integrated luminosity is about 30,000 times that of the Sun (absolute visible magnitude of about −6.6),[note 2] which is comparable to the luminosity of a typical globular cluster.[4][6] However, its total mass is about 7 million solar masses, which means the galaxy's mass to light ratio is around 330. A high mass to light ratio implies that Her is dominated by dark matter.[5][note 3]

The stellar population of Her consists mainly of old stars formed more than 12 billion years ago.[3] The metallicity of these old stars is also very low at [Fe/H] ≈ −2.58 ± 0.51,[note 4] which means that they contain 400 times less heavy elements than the Sun.[8] The stars of Her were probably among the first stars to form in the Universe. Currently there is no star formation in Her.[3] Measurements have so far failed to detect neutral hydrogen in it—the upper limit is 466 solar masses.[9]

Notes
  1. From other sources the half-radius is around 230 pc.[3]
  2. From other sources the absolute magnitude is around −5.3.[3]
  3. It is difficult to estimate the mass of such faint galaxies due to significant foreground contamination, which inflates the velocity dispersion. A paper published in 2009 arrived at a lower mass estimate of about 2 million solar masses within the half-radius; the total mass within 433 pc was estimated at about 4 million solar masses.[7]
  4. From other sources the metallicity is around −2.3.[2][5]

References
  1. "NAME Her Dwarf Galaxy". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2010-02-22.
  2. Adén, D.; Feltzing, S.; Koch, A. (2009). "A photometric and spectroscopic study of the new dwarf spheroidal galaxy in Hercules. Metallicity, velocities, and a clean list of RGB members". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 546 (3): 1147–1168. arXiv:0908.3489. Bibcode:2009A&A...506.1147A. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/200912718.
  3. Sand, David J.; Olszewski, Edward W.; Willman, Beth (2009). "The Star Formation History and Extended Structure of the Hercules Milky Way Satellite". The Astrophysical Journal. 704 (2): 898–914. arXiv:0906.4017. Bibcode:2009ApJ...704..898S. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/704/2/898.
  4. Belokurov, V.; Zucker, D. B.; Evans, N. W.; Kleyna, J. T.; Koposov, S.; Hodgkin, S. T.; Irwin, M. J.; Gilmore, G.; Wilkinson, M. I.; Fellhauer, M.; Bramich, D. M.; Hewett, P. C.; Vidrih, S.; De Jong, J. T. A.; Smith, J. A.; Rix, H. ‐W.; Bell, E. F.; Wyse, R. F. G.; Newberg, H. J.; Mayeur, P. A.; Yanny, B.; Rockosi, C. M.; Gnedin, O. Y.; Schneider, D. P.; Beers, T. C.; Barentine, J. C.; Brewington, H.; Brinkmann, J.; Harvanek, M.; Kleinman, S. J. (2007). "Cats and Dogs, Hair and a Hero: A Quintet of New Milky Way Companions". The Astrophysical Journal. 654 (2): 897. arXiv:astro-ph/0608448. Bibcode:2007ApJ...654..897B. doi:10.1086/509718.
  5. Simon, J. D.; Geha, M. (2007). "The Kinematics of the Ultra‐faint Milky Way Satellites: Solving the Missing Satellite Problem". The Astrophysical Journal. 670: 313. arXiv:0706.0516. Bibcode:2007ApJ...670..313S. doi:10.1086/521816.
  6. Martin, N. F.; De Jong, J. T. A.; Rix, H. W. (2008). "A Comprehensive Maximum Likelihood Analysis of the Structural Properties of Faint Milky Way Satellites". The Astrophysical Journal. 684 (2): 1075. arXiv:0805.2945. Bibcode:2008ApJ...684.1075M. doi:10.1086/590336.
  7. Adén, D.; Wilkinson, M.I.; Read, J.I. (2009). "A new low mass for the Hercules dSph: the end of a common mass scale for the dwarfs?". The Astrophysical Journal Letters. 706 (1): L150–L154. arXiv:0910.1348. Bibcode:2009ApJ...706L.150A. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/706/1/L150.
  8. Kirby, E. N.; Simon, J. D.; Geha, M.; Guhathakurta, P.; Frebel, A. (2008). "Uncovering Extremely Metal-Poor Stars in the Milky Way's Ultrafaint Dwarf Spheroidal Satellite Galaxies". The Astrophysical Journal. 685: L43. arXiv:0807.1925. Bibcode:2008ApJ...685L..43K. doi:10.1086/592432.
  9. Grcevich, J.; Putman, M. E. (2009). "H I in Local Group Dwarf Galaxies and Stripping by the Galactic Halo". The Astrophysical Journal. 696: 385. arXiv:0901.4975. Bibcode:2009ApJ...696..385G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/385.


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