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23rd of December 2014
 
A dwarf galaxy behind the Magellanic Bridge
Author: B. Koribalski (CSIRO ATNF)
We report an upper limit of 2 x 105 solar masses for the HI mass of the southern dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy SGC 0224.3-7345 (also known as PGC 009140 and [KK2000]03 = KKs 3). This small galaxy, shown above in the center of the Digitised Sky Survey B-band image (left), is located just outside the Local Group (Whiting et al. 2002, 2007). The newly measured distance of 2.12 Mpc (by Karachentsev, Makarova, Makarov, Tully and Rizzi 2014, MNRAS Letters, in press) puts it at the same distance as the Sculptor Group galaxies NGC 55 and NGC 300 (Westmeier et al. 2011, 2013).
High resolution 21-cm HI observations towards the dSph galaxy were obtained with CSIRO's Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA; right image). No hydrogen gas (HI) is detected at the position of the dwarf galaxy, which lies behind the Magellanic Bridge. Contours show HI emission from a tidal filament connecting the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds (Muller et al. 2003), at a velocity of about 200 km/s.
More information: Royal Astronomical Society - News & Press



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