Fornax Dwarf

Infobox Galaxy


caption =
name = "Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal"
epoch = J2000
type = dE0cite web
title=NASA/IPAC Extragalactic Database
work=Results for Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal
url=http://nedwww.ipac.caltech.edu/
accessdate=2006-11-29 ]
ra = RA|02|39|59.3
dec = DEC|-34|26|57
dist_ly = 460 ± 30 kly (140 ± 10 kpc)cite journal
author=I. D. Karachentsev, V. E. Karachentseva, W. K. Hutchmeier, D. I. Makarov
title=A Catalog of Neighboring Galaxies
journal=Astronomical Journal
year=2004
volume=127
pages=2031–2068
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004AJ....127.2031K
doi=10.1086/382905] cite journal
author=Karachentsev, I. D.; Kashibadze, O. G.
title=Masses of the local group and of the M81 group estimated from distortions in the local velocity field
journal=Astrophysics
year=2006
volume=49
issue=1
pages=3–18
url=http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2006Ap.....49....3K
doi=10.1007/s10511-006-0002-6 ]
z = 53 ± 9 km/s
appmag_v = 9.3
size_v = 17′.0 × 12′.6
constellation name = Fornax
notes = has 6 globular clusters
names = Fornax dSph,cite web
title=SIMBAD Astronomical Database
work=Results for Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal
url=http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/Simbad
accessdate=2006-11-29] Fornax Dwarf Elliptical, Fornax Dwarf Galaxy, Fornax dE, PGC 10074 / 10093

The Fornax Dwarf Spheroidal is an elliptical dwarf galaxy in the constellation Fornax that was discovered in 1938 by Harlow Shapley. He discovered it while he was in South Africa on photographic plates taken by a 24 inch reflecting telescope at Boyden Observatory, shortly after he discovered the Sculptor Dwarf galaxy.

The galaxy is a satellite of the Milky Way and contains six globular clusters; the largest, NGC 1049, was discovered before the galaxy itself. The galaxy is also receding from the Milky Way at 53 km/s. It mostly contains population II stars.

Globular clusters

Using the Hubble Space Telescope, in 1999, Buonanno et al. derived a color-magnitude diagram for Fornax 4, a globular cluster within this galaxy. Unlike the globular clusters Fornax 1, 2, 3, and 5, which have horizontal branches across a wide range of colors and include RR Lyrae variables, Fornax 4 is found to have only red in its horizontal branch. Fornax 4 is also ~3 Gyr younger than the other globular clusters. Buonanno et al. note that the color-magnitude diagram of Fornax 4 has a strong similarity to "young" galactic globular Ruprecht 106. This leads to two open questions: Why do dwarf spheroidals allow the formation of globular clusters like Fornax 4 and Terzan 7 (of Sagittarius dwarf) long after globular clusters ceased to form in the main body of the Galactic halo? Is it possible that "young" globular clusters of the outer halo like Ruprecht 106 were originally formed in now defunct dwarf spheroidals? citation
last1 = van den Bergh
first1 = Sidney
authorlink1 = Sidney van den Bergh
title = Updated Information on the Local Group
year = 2000
date = April 2000
journal = The Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific
volume = 112
issue = 770
url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-bib_query?bibcode=2000PASP..112..529V
pages = 529–536
doi = 10.1086/316548]

External links

* [http://www.astro.uu.se/~ns/fornax.html Fornax dSph]
* [http://www.seds.org/~spider/spider/LG/for_dw.html Fornax Dwarf]
*WikiSky|name=The Fornax Dwarf

References