Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:13:27.491Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Canis Major Dwarf Galaxy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Geraint F. Lewis*
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, A29, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
Rodrigo A. Ibata
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 Rue de l'Universite, 6700 Strasbourg, France
Michael J. Irwin
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0HA, UK
Nicolas F. Martin
Affiliation:
Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 Rue de l'Universite, 6700 Strasbourg, France
Michele Bellazzini
Affiliation:
INAF–Osservatorio Astronomico di Bologna, Via Ranzani 1, 40127 Bologna, Italy
Blair Conn
Affiliation:
Institute of Astronomy, School of Physics, A29, University of Sydney, Sydney NSW 2006, Australia
*
ECorresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Recent observational evidence suggests that the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy represents the only major ongoing accretion event in the Galactic halo, accounting for the majority of stellar debris identified there. This paper summarises the recent discovery of another potential Milky Way accretion event, the Canis Major dwarf galaxy. This dwarf satellite galaxy is found to lie just below the Galactic plane and appears to be on an equatorial orbit. Unlike Sagittarius, which is contributing to the Galactic halo, the location and eventual demise of Canis Major suggests that it represents a building block of the thick disk.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2004

References

Bellazzini, M., Ibata, R., Monaco, L., Martin, N., Irwin, M. J., & Lewis, G. F. 2004, MNRAS, in press, astro-ph/0311119Google Scholar
Brook, C. B., Kawata, D., Gibson, B. K., & Flynn, C. 2003, ApJ, 585, L125 Google Scholar
Crane, J. D., Majewski, S. R., Rocha-Pinto, H. J., Frinchaboy, P. M., Skrutskie, M. F., & Law, D. R. 2003, ApJ, 594, L119 Google Scholar
Dehnen, W., & Binney, J. 1998, MNRAS, 294, 429 Google Scholar
Forbes, D. A., Strader, J., & Brodie, J. P. 2004, AJ, 127, 3394 Google Scholar
Frinchaboy, P. M., Majewski, S. R., Crane, J. D., Reid, I. N., Rocha-Pinto, H. J., Phelps, R. L., Patterson, R. J., & Muñoz, R. R. 2004, ApJ, 602, L21 Google Scholar
Helmi, A., Navarro, J. F., Meza, A., Steinmetz, M., & Eke, V. R. 2003, ApJ, 592, L25 Google Scholar
Helmi, A., White, S. D. M., de Zeeuw, P. T., & Zhao, H. 1999, Natur, 402, 53 Google Scholar
Ibata, R. A., Irwin, M. J., Lewis, G. F., Ferguson, A. M. N., & Tanvir, N. 2003, MNRAS, 340, L21 Google Scholar
Ibata, R., Bellazzini, M., Irwin, M., Lewis, G. F., & Martin, N. F. 2004, MNRAS, submittedGoogle Scholar
Ibata, R. A., Lewis, G. F., Irwin, M. J., & Cambrésy, L. 2002, MNRAS, 332, 921 Google Scholar
Klypin, A., Kravtsov, A. V., Valenzuela, O., & Prada, F. 1999, ApJ, 522, 82 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Majewski, S. R., Skrutskie, M. F., Weinberg, M. D., & Ostheimer, J. C. 2003, ApJ, 599, 1082 Google Scholar
Martin, N. F., Ibata, R. A., Bellazzini, M., Irwin, M. J., Lewis, G. F., & Dehnen, W. 2004, MNRAS, 348, 12 Google Scholar
Newberg, H. J., et al. 2002, ApJ, 569, 245 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rocha-Pinto, H. J., Majewski, S. R., Skrutskie, M. F., & Crane, J. D. 2003, ApJ, 594, L115 Google Scholar
Yanny, B., et al. 2003, ApJ, 588, 824 Google Scholar
Yanny, B., et al. 2004, ApJ, 605, 575 Google Scholar