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Ultra-compact Dwarf Galaxies: a New Class of Compact Stellar System Discovered in the Fornax Cluster

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 August 2017

Michael Drinkwater
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia
Kenji Bekki
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Warrick Couch
Affiliation:
School of Physics, Univ. of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia
Steve Phillipps
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
Bryn Jones
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Michael Gregg
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA

Abstract

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We have used the 2dF spectrograph on the Anglo-Australian Telescope to obtain a complete spectroscopic sample of all objects in the magnitude range, 16.5 < bJ < 19.8, regardless of morphology, in an area centred on the Fornax Cluster of galaxies. Among the unresolved targets are five objects which are members of the Fornax Cluster. They are extremely compact stellar systems with scale lengths less than 40 parsecs. These ultra-compact dwarfs are unlike any known type of stellar system, being more compact and significantly less luminous than other compact dwarf galaxies, yet much brighter than any globular cluster.

Type
Part 2. Globular Cluster Systems of Distant Galaxies
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of the Pacific 2002 

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