A COLD MILKY WAY STELLAR STREAM IN THE DIRECTION OF TRIANGULUM

Journal Article · Tue Nov 20 04:00:00 EST 2012 · Astrophysical Journal Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/760/1/L6· OSTI ID:22078425

Bonaca, Ana; Geha, Marla; Kallivayalil, Nitya ^[1]

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1. Department of Astronomy, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (United States)

We present evidence for a new Milky Way stellar tidal stream in the direction of the Andromeda and Triangulum (M31 and M33) galaxies. Using a matched-filter technique, we search the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 8 by creating stellar density maps which probe the Milky Way halo at distances between 8 and 40 kpc. A visual search of these maps recovers all of the major known stellar streams, as well as a new stream in the direction of M31/M33 that we name the Triangulum stream. The stream spans 0.{sup 0}2 by 12 Degree-Sign on the sky, or 75 pc by 5.5 kpc in physical units with a best-fitting distance of 26 {+-} 4 kpc. The width of the stream is consistent with being the tidal remnant of a globular cluster. A color-magnitude diagram of the stream region shows an overdensity which, if identified as a main-sequence turnoff, corresponds to an old ({approx}12 Gyr) and metal-poor ([Fe/H] {approx}-1.0 dex) stellar population. Future kinematic studies of this and similar cold streams will provide tight constraints on the shape of the Galactic gravitational potential.

• OSTI ID: 22078425
• Journal Information: Astrophysical Journal Letters, Journal Name: Astrophysical Journal Letters Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 760; ISSN 2041-8205
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
COLOR
DENSITY
DISTANCE
GRAVITATIONAL RADIATION
METALS
MILKY WAY
SKY