Distance to NGC 1569 via Deep HST/ACS Photometry

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Scientific paper

The dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 1569 is the closest and strongest starburst galaxy to the Milky Way, and contains three of the most massive super star clusters ever discovered. Using the ACS/WFC on the Hubble Space Telescope we have obtained the deepest optical photometry of this galaxy to date, yielding a V,I color-magnitude diagram (CMD) with some 450,000 stars. These data have allowed us, for the first time, to unequivocally measure the brightness of the tip of the red giant branch and thereby determine the distance to NGC 1569. We find that this galaxy lies 40% farther away than what is typically assumed. The longer distance makes NGC 1569 an even more extreme starburst galaxy; previous estimates of the star formation shift to younger epochs and the rate of star formation becomes stronger by a factor of 2. In addition, with the new distance the dynamical masses of the super star clusters increase by 40% while their luminosities double. Preliminary results on the star formation history of NGC 1569 as inferred from the observed CMD will also be presented.

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