Related papers: A Young Blue Tidal Stream in NGC 5128
Stellar streams provide unique probes of galactic potentials, with the longer streams normally providing the cleaner measurements. In this paper, we show an example of a short tidal stream that is particularly sensitive to the shape of the…
The Ophiuchus stream is a short arc-like stellar feature of uncertain origin located $\sim 5$ kpc North of the Galactic centre. New proper motions from the second $Gaia$ data release reconcile the direction of motion of stream members with…
The distance to NGC 5128, the central galaxy of the Centaurus group and the nearest giant elliptical to us, has been determined using two independent distance indicators: the Mira period-luminosity (PL) relation and the luminosity of the…
Simulations are run with and without a normal cold dark matter sub-halo population below 4x10^8 M_sun to examine the role of the lower mass sub-halos in the creation of density variations, "gaps", within thin tidal star streams. Dense star…
We present a UV, optical and near-infrared (near-IR) study of the star-forming complexes in the nearby peculiar galaxy NGC 3718, using UVIT, GALEX, Spitzer and DECaLS imaging data. The galaxy has a disturbed optical morphology due to the…
Globular Cluster (GC) formation seems to be a widespread mode of star formation in extreme starbursts triggered by strong interactions and mergers of massive gas-rich galaxies. We use our detailed chemically consistent evolutionary…
Interacting galaxies surrounded by HI tidal debris are ideal sites for the study of young clusters and tidal galaxy formation. The process that triggers star formation in the low-density environments outside galaxies is still an open…
Using photometry and proper motions from Gaia Data Release 2, we detect a 50 degree-long stream of about 70 stars extending westward from the halo globular cluster M5. Based on the similarities in distance, proper motions, inferred…
We present the results of a photometric and spectroscopic survey of the globular cluster system of NGC 5128 (Centaurus A), a galaxy whose proximity makes it an important target for early-type galaxy studies. We imaged three fields in UBVRI…
Star streams in galactic halos are long, thin, unbound structures that will be disturbed by the thousands dark matter sub-halos that are predicted to be orbiting within the main halo. A sub-halo generally induces a localized wave in the…
Standard cosmology predicts that dwarfs were the first galaxies to be formed in the Universe and that many of them merge afterwards to form bigger galaxies such as the Milky Way. This process would have left behind traces such as tidal…
Two recent observations regarding the halo of M33 seem to contradict each other. First, the star clusters in the halo of M33 exhibit an age range of 5 to 7 Gyr suggesting a formation scenario that involves the chaotic fragmentation and…
Detailed studies of stellar populations in the halos of the Milky Way and the Andromeda (M 31) galaxies have shown increasing numbers of tidal streams and dwarf galaxies, attesting to a complicated and on-going process of hierarchical…
The Gaia mission promises to deliver precision astrometry at an unprecedented level, heralding a new era for discerning the kinematic and spatial coordinates of stars in our Galaxy. Here, we present a new technique for estimating the age of…
Using high-resolution spectra of nearby F and G dwarf stars, we have investigated the detailed abundance and age structure of the Hercules stream. We find that the stars in the stream have a wide range of stellar ages, metallicities, and…
Using V and I images obtained with WFPC2/HST, we investigate compact stellar structures within tidal tails. Six regions of tidal debris in the four classic ``Toomre Sequence'' mergers: NGC 4038/39 (``Antennae''), NGC 3256, NGC 3921, and NGC…
We present deep GALEX images of NGC 5128, the parent galaxy of Centaurus A. We detect a striking "weather ribbon" of Far-UV and H$\alpha$ emission, which extends more than 35 kpc northeast of the galaxy. The ribbon is associated with a…
We study the properties of the globular cluster system of the ``old'' merger NGC 5018. We detect a relatively poor globular cluster system, that can be divided into at least two populations based on colors: a small population of blue…
We report the results of a recent study of young star clusters (YSCs) in luminous blue compact galaxies (BCGs). The age distributions of the YSCs suggest that the starburst episode in Haro 11, ESO 185-IG13, and Mrk 930 started not more than…
The giant merger remnant galaxy NGC 1316 (Fornax A) is an ideal probe for studying the long-term effects of a past major merger on star cluster systems, given its spectroscopically derived merger age of ~3 Gyr which we reported in a recent…