Galaxy Zoo Talk

Double nucleus in elliptical and galaxy formation

  • Budgieye by Budgieye moderator

    Double-nucleus elliptical MCG-01-12-005 in an X-ray emitting cluster
    of galaxies

    Nesci, Roberto; Fiocchi, Mariateresa; Bassani, Loredana; Parisi,
    Pietro

    Abstract. The scenario of galaxy formation is believed to follow a
    structure that builds up from the bottom, with large galaxies being
    formed by several merging episodes of smaller ones. In this scenario a
    number of galaxies can be expected to be seen in the merging phase,
    with their external regions already mixed, while their nuclei, with
    stronger self-gravitation, are still recognizable as such. During a
    photometric monitoring of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) in the field
    of a long-exposure INTEGRAL pointing, we serendipitously found an
    elliptical galaxy in the center of the X-ray cluster (EXO 0422-086)
    with two nuclei. We performed surface photometry on our images and
    those of the SDSS archive and obtained slit spectra of both nuclei.
    Aperture photometry of the two stellar-like nuclei showed very similar
    colors in the SDSS image and in our Johnson BVRI images, which is
    typical of an elliptical galaxy nucleus. The spectra of the nuclei
    showed the typical absorption lines of an elliptical galaxy without
    appreciable emission lines. The redshifts derived from each nucleus
    were equal and fully consistent with the literature value (0.0397). We
    can therefore exclude the possibility that one of the nuclei is a
    foreground star or a background AGN and consider this elliptical
    galaxy as a bona fide example of a galaxy merger.

    http://ned.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/ex_refcode?refcode=2015A%26A...576A.124N but the link is not working for me at the moment.

    1237674284848971813

    http://skyserver.sdss.org/dr9/en/tools/explore/obj.asp?ra=66.46387448242223&dec=-8.561103059567415

    Re: Wanted! Galaxy pairs which overlap but are not merging
    « Reply #9171 on: January 30, 2011, 04:56:47 pm » http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=6732.msg526791#msg526791 by c_c;d

    Re: Vorontsov-Velyaminov Interacting Galaxies
    « Reply #259 on: December 17, 2012, 02:16:18 am » http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=279218.msg622432#msg622432 by elizabeth

    Re: Galaxy systems
    « Reply #1733 on: January 31, 2011, 07:52:58 am » http://www.galaxyzooforum.org/index.php?topic=272654.msg526995#msg526995 by LankyYankee

    What about if we had recognized its significance, and it could have been a Galaxy Zoo paper?

    Posted