Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2005-07-31
Astrophys.J.637:L25-L28,2006
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
8 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters (minor text revisions). Version with high resolution figures avail
Scientific paper
10.1086/500195
Extended halo tidal streams from disrupting Milky Way satellites offer new opportunities for gauging fundamental Galactic parameters without challenging observations of the Galactic center. In the roughly spherical Galactic potential tidal debris from a satellite system is largely confined to a single plane containing the Galactic center, so accurate distances to stars in the tidal stream can be used to gauge the Galactic center distance, R_0, given reasonable projection of the stream orbital pole on the X_GC axis. Alternatively, a tidal stream with orbital pole near the Y_GC axis, like the Sagittarius stream, can be used to derive the speed of the Local Standard of Rest (\Theta_LSR). Modest improvements in current astrometric catalogues might allow this measurement to be made, but NASA's Space Interferometry Mission (SIM PlanetQuest) can definitively obtain both R_0 and \Theta_LSR using tidal streams.
Law David R.
Majewski Steven R.
Patterson Richard J.
Polak Allyson A.
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