SALT/RSS Longslit Spectroscopy of the NGC 1140 Starburst

Details SALT/RSS Longslit Spectroscopy of the NGC 1140 Starburst SALT/RSS Longslit Spectroscopy of the NGC 1140 Starburst

Jun 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...208.1403b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society Meeting 208, #14.03; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.93

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

1

Scientific paper

We present a long-slit spectrum of the amorphous starbursting dwarf galaxy NGC 1140 taken by the Robert Stobie Spectrograph of the Southern African Large Telescope during its commissioning phase in November 2005. A 1.2 arcsecond wide longslit oriented along the major axis in conjunction with a volume phase holographic grating were used to produce a 800 Angstrom wide spectrum, centered on H-alpha, with a resolving power of 5500. Twelve minutes of data were obtained. Emission features from H-alpha, [NII], [SII] and HeI were observed. The peak of the emission features is observed to be 2 arcseconds north of the stellar continuum, consistent with HST imaging of the galaxy, and a bright knot of gas with a velocity offset of 100 km/s is detected about 18 arcseconds south of the continuum peak. The emission lines are well-resolved with FWHM 80-100 km/s in the inner galaxy, typical of intensely star-forming regions, while FWHM 100-140 km/s are seen in the outer galaxy, suggesting a possible galactic wind. The complex velocity field is consistent with the merger model for NGC 1140. The intensity ratio of the [SII] doublet, 6717/6731 is 1.3, indicating a low electron density, and thus modest thermal pressure despite the galaxy's starburst status. The H-alpha/[SII] ratio, which is an indicator of the presence of shocks,varies along the slit with a maximum of 8 at the peak of the gaseous emission and dropping to nearly 2 at the edges of the galaxy, with a value of 3 for the offset knot of gas. Thus shocks could play a role in the outer galaxy, while the knot is more likely a star forming region. We interpret our results in the context of a starburst induced by the merger of two low mass galaxies, as previously discussed by Hunter et al. (1994, ApJS, 91, 79).

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