Observations of a Tidal Tail in the Interacting Galaxies NGC 4485/4490

Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astronomy

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Galaxies: Individual: Ngc 4485/4490, Galaxies: Interactions, Stars: Formation

Scientific paper

NGC 4485 and NGC 4490 are closely interacting spiral galaxies in the NGC 4631 Group, separated by a projected distance of 7.7 kpc. Images in the B and I bands were obtained with the Burrell Schmidt telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory in order to study star-forming regions in their tidal features, including a previously undetected faint tail whose color matches that of the outer disk in NGC 4490. A comparison of the tidal morphology with published simulations suggests that this is a prograde encounter with perigalacticon about 4 x 10^8 yr ago. This time is approximately the age of the youngest regions in the tail, based on a comparison of observed B - I colors with evolutionary models. Calculations of the Q instability parameter using a rotation curve derived from published H i observations support the conclusion that the tail is currently stable against star formation.

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