Bibcode
Dufour, R. J.; Castaneda, H. O.; Esteban, C.
Bibliographical reference
American Astronomical Society, 188th AAS Meeting, #09.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 28, p.836
Advertised on:
9
1996
Citations
0
Refereed citations
0
Description
We present kinematical evidence that the irregular galaxy located 26''
northwest of IZw18 -the most metal-poor blue-compact-dwarf (BCD) galaxy
known- is a dynamically associated companion system. Longslit CCD
spectra were obtained in 1996 February using the 4.2m WHT+ISIS at La
Palma, with the slit placed across the NW HII region of IZw18 and
through an Hα knot in the center of the companion galaxy. Deep CCD
spectra were acquired simultaneously in the blue and red spectral
regions; with the blue covering Hβ and [OIII] 4959,5007 Angstroms,
and the red covering Hα . The red spectra showed continuous
Hα emission from the BCD main body of IZw18 to the Hα knot
in the companion galaxy. The heliocentric radial velocity variation for
the Hα line across a 50'' length of slit ( ~ 2.4 kpc for a
distance of 10 Mpc for IZw18) shows a smooth double-sinusoidal variation
ranging from +730 km/s just NW of the brightest star-forming region in
IZw18 to +780 km/s in the SE extremity of the main body. The
heliocentric velocity of the brightest Hα knot in the main body
was measured as +741.0+/-0.1 km/s and that of the Hα knot in the
companion was found to be +752+/-2 km/s (where the errors are the
residuals of the gaussian fits; systematic errors are yet to be
evaluated). In addition to the radial velocity information, we present
an analysis of high velocity gas seen in the wings of Hα and other
lines at several locations across IZw18 and in the Hα knot of the
companion system (where we find the knot to be an expanding cloud, with
vexp ~ 100 km/s). Previous HST WFPC2 imagery (Dufour et al.
1995, BAAS, 27, 86) indicated that the companion system (``C'') was a
dwarf irregular galaxy of type Im that resolved into stars at the V~24.5
level. They also noted that it contained stars as young as ~ 40 Myr -if
it were at the same distance as IZw18. Our new results prove that
``IZw18'' consists of a pair of dwarf irregulars, one currently
undergoing a starburst (the BCD namesake) and another nearby ( ~ 1.5 kpc
in the plane of the sky) Im system which has had an older star formation
history.