Physics
Scientific paper
Aug 1999
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999noao.prop..403o&link_type=abstract
NOAO Proposal ID #1999B-0403
Physics
Scientific paper
We are surveying the structure of the halo of M31 using a variant of the Washington photometry system that allows us to identify individual red giant stars with only three filters. When used in conjunction with the MOSAIC CCD array on the Mayall 4-m, this technique can survey unprecedentedly large areas of M31's halo relatively easily. Moreover, in contrast to previous studies, this survey will (1) be essentially free of contamination by foreground Galactic stars and background galaxies, (2) be viable to arbitrarily low densities at large radii from M31, and (3) provide relatively clean catalogues of bona fide M31 halo giants at all radii bright enough for radial velocities and spectroscopic abundances to be obtained with Gemini. The data from our survey will be used to obtain global structural properties - shape, density law, extent - of the M31 halo, but will also be sensitive to halo substructure, like the tidal debris streams detected recently in the Milky Way. These data will be supplemented with Washington C photometry in a smaller number of fields for a preliminary assessment of the abundance-structure connection. Because M31 is far enough away that large format detectors probe large volumes of the halo, yet close enough to resolve individual stars, it is the ideal setting in which to explore the processes that form and shape a galactic halo.
Majewski Steven R.
Ostheimer James C. Jr.
Patterson Richard
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