Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster
Abstract
We present a study of the smallest and faintest galaxies found in a very deep photographic R band survey of two regions of the Virgo Cluster, totalling 3.2 square degrees, made with the UK Schmidt Telescope. The objects we detect have the same physical sizes and surface brightnesses as Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxies. The luminosity function of these extremely low luminosity galaxies (down to M_R =~ -11 or about 5 X 10^{-5} L*) is very steep, with a power law slope alpha = -2.2.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9805287,
title = {Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies in the Virgo Cluster},
author = {J. B. Jones and S. Phillipps and J. M. Schwartzenberg and Q. A. Parker},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9805287},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
4 pages, LateX (uses Moriond style file, included), with four embedded postscript figures, to appear in `Dwarf Galaxies and Cosmology', Proceedings of the XVIIIth Moriond Astrophysics Meeting, eds. T. X. Thuan, C. Balkowski, V. Cayatte and J. Tran Thanh Van, publ. Editions Frontieres, Gif-sur-Yvette