RED SUPERGIANTS AS COSMIC ABUNDANCE PROBES: THE SCULPTOR GALAXY NGC 300

Journal Article · Mon Jun 01 00:00:00 EDT 2015 · Astrophysical Journal

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/805/2/182· OSTI ID:22522352

Gazak, J. Zachary; Kudritzki, Rolf; Bresolin, Fabio ^[1]; Evans, Chris ^[2]; Patrick, Lee ^[3]; Davies, Ben ^[4]; Bergemann, Maria ^[5]; Plez, Bertrand ^[6]; Bender, Ralf; Wegner, Michael ^[7]; Bonanos, Alceste Z.; Williams, Stephen J. ^[8]

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1. Institute for Astronomy, University of Hawai’i, 2680 Woodlawn Dr, Honolulu, HI 96822 (United States)
2. UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh., EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
3. Institute for Astronomy, Royal Observatory Edinburgh, Blackford Hill, Edinburgh., EH9 3HJ (United Kingdom)
4. Astrophysics Research Institute, Liverpool John Moores University, 146 Brownlow Hill, Liverpool L3 5RF (United Kingdom)
5. Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 0HA (United Kingdom)
6. Laboratoire Univers et Particules de Montpellier, Université de Montpellier, CNRS, F-34095 Montpellier (France)
7. University Observatory Munich, Scheinerstr. 1, D-81679 Munich (Germany)
8. IAASARS, National Observatory of Athens, GR-15236 Penteli (Greece)

We present a quantitative spectroscopic study of 27 red supergiants (RSGs) in the Sculptor Galaxy NGC 300. J-band spectra were obtained using KMOS on the Very Large Telescope and studied with state of the art synthetic spectra including NLTE corrections for the strongest diagnostic lines. We report a central metallicity of [Z] = −0.03 ± 0.05 with a gradient of −0.083 ± 0.014 [dex/kpc], in agreement with previous studies of blue supergiants and H ii-region auroral line measurements. This result marks the first application of the J-band spectroscopic method to a population of individual RSG stars beyond the Local Group of galaxies and reveals the great potential of this technique.

• OSTI ID: 22522352
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 805, Issue 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTROPHYSICS
COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
CORRECTIONS
EMISSION SPECTRA
GALAXIES
METALLICITY
PROBES
RED GIANT STARS
SUPERGIANT STARS
TELESCOPES