LEDA 074886: a remarkable rectangular-looking galaxy

Alister W. Graham; Lee R. Spitler; Duncan A. Forbes; Thorsten Lisker; Ben Moore; Joachim Janz

doi:10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121

LEDA 074886: a remarkable rectangular-looking galaxy

Alister W. Graham^*, Lee R. Spitler, Duncan A. Forbes, Thorsten Lisker, Ben Moore, Joachim Janz

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

27 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

We report the discovery of an interesting and rare rectangular-shaped galaxy. At a distance of 21 Mpc, the dwarf galaxy LEDA 074886 has an absolute R-band magnitude of -17.3 mag. Adding to this galaxy's intrigue is the presence of an embedded, edge-on stellar disk (of extent 2 R_e,disk = 12″ = 1.2 kpc) for which Forbes et al. reported v_rot/σ ≈ 1.4. We speculate that this galaxy may be the remnant of two (nearly edge-on) merged disk galaxies in which the initial gas was driven inward and subsequently formed the inner disk, while the stars at larger radii effectively experienced a dissipationless merger event resulting in this "emerald cut galaxy" having very boxy isophotes with a ₄/a = -0.05 to -0.08 from 3 to 5 kpc. This galaxy suggests that knowledge from simulations of both "wet" and "dry" galaxy mergers may need to be combined to properly understand the various paths that galaxy evolution can take, with a particular relevance to blue elliptical galaxies.

Original language	English
Article number	121
Pages (from-to)	1-5
Number of pages	5
Journal	Astrophysical Journal
Volume	750
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121
Publication status	Published - 10 May 2012
Externally published	Yes

Access to Document

10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121

Cite this

@article{e9041b315b7143ec85f51d13fdc34326,

title = "LEDA 074886: a remarkable rectangular-looking galaxy",

abstract = "We report the discovery of an interesting and rare rectangular-shaped galaxy. At a distance of 21 Mpc, the dwarf galaxy LEDA 074886 has an absolute R-band magnitude of -17.3 mag. Adding to this galaxy's intrigue is the presence of an embedded, edge-on stellar disk (of extent 2 Re,disk = 12″ = 1.2 kpc) for which Forbes et al. reported vrot/σ ≈ 1.4. We speculate that this galaxy may be the remnant of two (nearly edge-on) merged disk galaxies in which the initial gas was driven inward and subsequently formed the inner disk, while the stars at larger radii effectively experienced a dissipationless merger event resulting in this {"}emerald cut galaxy{"} having very boxy isophotes with a 4/a = -0.05 to -0.08 from 3 to 5 kpc. This galaxy suggests that knowledge from simulations of both {"}wet{"} and {"}dry{"} galaxy mergers may need to be combined to properly understand the various paths that galaxy evolution can take, with a particular relevance to blue elliptical galaxies.",

author = "Graham, {Alister W.} and Spitler, {Lee R.} and Forbes, {Duncan A.} and Thorsten Lisker and Ben Moore and Joachim Janz",

year = "2012",

month = may,

day = "10",

doi = "10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121",

language = "English",

volume = "750",

pages = "1--5",

journal = "Astrophysical Journal",

issn = "0004-637X",

publisher = "IOP Publishing",

number = "2",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - LEDA 074886

T2 - a remarkable rectangular-looking galaxy

AU - Graham, Alister W.

AU - Spitler, Lee R.

AU - Forbes, Duncan A.

AU - Lisker, Thorsten

AU - Moore, Ben

AU - Janz, Joachim

PY - 2012/5/10

Y1 - 2012/5/10

N2 - We report the discovery of an interesting and rare rectangular-shaped galaxy. At a distance of 21 Mpc, the dwarf galaxy LEDA 074886 has an absolute R-band magnitude of -17.3 mag. Adding to this galaxy's intrigue is the presence of an embedded, edge-on stellar disk (of extent 2 Re,disk = 12″ = 1.2 kpc) for which Forbes et al. reported vrot/σ ≈ 1.4. We speculate that this galaxy may be the remnant of two (nearly edge-on) merged disk galaxies in which the initial gas was driven inward and subsequently formed the inner disk, while the stars at larger radii effectively experienced a dissipationless merger event resulting in this "emerald cut galaxy" having very boxy isophotes with a 4/a = -0.05 to -0.08 from 3 to 5 kpc. This galaxy suggests that knowledge from simulations of both "wet" and "dry" galaxy mergers may need to be combined to properly understand the various paths that galaxy evolution can take, with a particular relevance to blue elliptical galaxies.

AB - We report the discovery of an interesting and rare rectangular-shaped galaxy. At a distance of 21 Mpc, the dwarf galaxy LEDA 074886 has an absolute R-band magnitude of -17.3 mag. Adding to this galaxy's intrigue is the presence of an embedded, edge-on stellar disk (of extent 2 Re,disk = 12″ = 1.2 kpc) for which Forbes et al. reported vrot/σ ≈ 1.4. We speculate that this galaxy may be the remnant of two (nearly edge-on) merged disk galaxies in which the initial gas was driven inward and subsequently formed the inner disk, while the stars at larger radii effectively experienced a dissipationless merger event resulting in this "emerald cut galaxy" having very boxy isophotes with a 4/a = -0.05 to -0.08 from 3 to 5 kpc. This galaxy suggests that knowledge from simulations of both "wet" and "dry" galaxy mergers may need to be combined to properly understand the various paths that galaxy evolution can take, with a particular relevance to blue elliptical galaxies.

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84860351625&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121

DO - 10.1088/0004-637X/750/2/121

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84860351625

SN - 0004-637X

VL - 750

SP - 1

EP - 5

JO - Astrophysical Journal

JF - Astrophysical Journal

IS - 2

M1 - 121

ER -

LEDA 074886: a remarkable rectangular-looking galaxy

Abstract

Access to Document

Other files and links

Fingerprint

Cite this