A faint new milky way satellite in bootes

V. Belokurov*, D. B. Zucker, N. W. Evans, M. I. Wilkinson, M. J. Irwin, S. Hodgkin, D. M. Bramich, J. M. Irwin, G. Gilmore, B. Willman, S. Vidrih, H. J. Newberg, R. F G Wyse, M. Fellhauer, P. C. Hewett, N. Cole, E. F. Bell, T. C. Beers, C. M. Rockosi, B. YannyE. K. Grebel, D. P. Schneider, R. Lupton, J. C. Barentine, H. Brewington, J. Brinkmann, M. Harvanek, S. J. Kleinman, J. Krzesinski, D. Long, A. Nitta, J. A. Smith, S. A. Snedden

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

351 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We announce the discovery of a new satellite of the Milky Way in the constellation of Bootes at a distance of ∼60 kpc. It was found in a systematic search for stellar overdensities in the north Galactic cap using Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 5. The color-magnitude diagram shows a well-defined turnoff, red giant branch, and extended horizontal branch. Its absolute magnitude is Mv∼ -5.8 mag, which makes it one of the faintest galaxies known. The half-light radius is ∼220 pc. The isodensity contours are elongated and have an irregular shape, suggesting that Boo may be a disrupted dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)L111-L114
Number of pages4
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume647
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 20 Aug 2006
Externally publishedYes

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