Galactic warp in the overdensity of the Canis Major region

López-Corredoira, M.
Bibliographical reference

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Volume 369, Issue 4, pp. 1911-1915.

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7
2006
Number of authors
1
IAC number of authors
1
Citations
19
Refereed citations
17
Description
Bellazzini et al. claim that López-Corredoira et al. warp model is totally unable to reproduce the Canis Major structure in the red clump stars. However, slight variations in the azimuth of the López-Corredoira et al. warp model, justified by the uncertainties in the parameter as well as the local irregularities with respect to the average model, derive a result much closer to the observations of the overdensity south/north. The bump of red clump stars with mK = 13-13.5 around l = 241°,b = -8.5° and the depth of the Canis Major structure are also explainable in terms of the warp with an appropriate extrapolation of constant height between Galactocentric radii of 13 and 16 kpc, as observed roughly in the southern warp, instead of a monotonically increasing height like the northern warp; and the observed velocity distribution of stars cannot exclude the warp possibility. A warp model is therefore still a possible explanation of the Canis Major overdensity, and the hypothesis of the existence of a dwarf galaxy is unnecessary, although still a possibility too.