Sdssj103913.70+533029.7: a super star cluster in the outskirts of a galaxy merger

Journal Article · Tue Nov 01 00:00:00 EST 2005

OSTI ID:879048

Knapp, Gillian R; Tremonti, Christy A; Rockosi, Constance M; Schlegel, David J; Yanny, Brian; Beers, Timothy C; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Wilhelm, Ron; Lupton, RobertH; Gunn, James E; Niederste-Ostholt, Martin; Schneider, Donald P; Covey, Kevin; Seth, Anil; Ivezic, Zeljko; Eisenstein, Daniel J; Helmboldt, Joe; Finkbeiner, Douglas P; Padmanabhan, Nikhil; Kleinman, Scot J ; Long, Dan

We describe the serendipitous discovery in the spectroscopic data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey of a star-like object, SDSSJ103913.70+533029.7, at a heliocentric radial velocity of +1012 km s{sup -1}. Its proximity in position and velocity to the spiral galaxy NGC 3310 suggests an association with the galaxy. At this distance, SDSSJ103913.70+533029.7 has the luminosity of a super star cluster and a projected distance of 17 kpc from NGC 3310. Its spectroscopic and photometric properties imply a mass of > 10{sup 6} M{sub {circle_dot}} and an age close to that of the tidal shells seen around NGC 3310, suggesting that it formed in the event which formed the shells.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03000
• OSTI ID: 879048
• Report Number(s): FERMILAB-PUB-05-589-CD; arXiv eprint number astro-ph/0511010; TRN: US200612%%498
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
LUMINOSITY
RADIAL VELOCITY
SKY
STAR CLUSTERS
VELOCITY
Astrophysics