WFPC2 Observations of the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

Details WFPC2 Observations of the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy WFPC2 Observations of the Ursa Minor Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

Dec 1998

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1998aas...193.0806b&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, 193rd AAS Meeting, #08.06; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 30, p.1258

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

We present our preliminary analysis of archival Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observations in F555W ( ~ V) and F814W ( ~ I) of the Ursa Minor dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy. The V vs. (V-I) color-magnitude (CMD) diagram reaches ~ 2 magnitudes below the main sequence turnoff (SNR>=10 in both filters) and features a steep red giant branch (RGB) with very little scatter. The tightness in the RGB with no apparent secondary turnoff is consistent with a single burst of star formation for the Ursa Minor stellar population. We compare the Ursa Minor CMD with the fiducial sequence of the ancient metal-poor Galactic globular cluster M92. The excellent match between Ursa Minor and M92 confirms that the median stellar population of the Ursa Minor dwarf is metal poor ([Fe/H] ~ -2.2) and is of similar age to M92. We conclude that the Ursa Minor dSph galaxy is as old as the Milky Way.

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