Bibcode
Trujillo, I.; Fliri, J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 823, Issue 2, article id. 123, pp. (2016).
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6
2016
Journal
Citations
149
Refereed citations
123
Description
The detection of structures in the sky with optical surface brightnesses
fainter than 30 mag arcsec‑2 (3σ in 10 × 10
arcsec boxes; r-band) has remained elusive in current photometric deep
surveys. Here we show how present-day telescopes of 10 m class can
provide broadband imaging 1.5–2 mag deeper than most previous
results within a reasonable amount of time (i.e., <10 hr on-source
integration). In particular, we illustrate the ability of the 10.4 m
Gran Telescopio de Canarias telescope to produce imaging with a limiting
surface brightness of 31.5 mag arcsec‑2 (3σ in 10
× 10 arcsec boxes; r-band) using 8.1 hr on source. We apply this
power to explore the stellar halo of the galaxy UGC 00180, a galaxy
analogous to M31 located at ∼150 Mpc, by obtaining a radial profile
of surface brightness down to μ r ∼ 33 mag
arcsec‑2. This depth is similar to that obtained using
the star-counts techniques for Local Group galaxies, but is achieved at
a distance where this technique is unfeasible. We find that the mass of
the stellar halo of this galaxy is ∼4 × 109 M
⊙, i.e., (3 ± 1)% of the total stellar mass of the
whole system. This amount of mass in the stellar halo is in agreement
with current theoretical expectations for galaxies of this kind.