Boötes II (dwarf galaxy)

Bootes II or Boo II is a dwarf spheroidal galaxy situated in the Bootes constellation and discovered in 2007 in the data obtained by Sloan Digital Sky Survey.[4] The galaxy is located at the distance of about 42 kpc from the Sun and moves towards the Sun with the speed of 120 km/s.[4][5] It is classified as a dwarf spheroidal galaxy (dSph) meaning that it has an approximately round shape with the half-light radius of about 51 pc.[2][note 1]

Bootes II Dwarf Galaxy[1]
Observation data (J2000 epoch)
ConstellationBoötes
Right ascension 13h 58m 00s[1]
Declination+12° 51′ 00″[1]
Distance136 ± 7 kly (42 ± 2 kpc)[2][3]
Apparent magnitude (V)15.8 ± 0.5[4]
Characteristics
TypedSph[4]
Apparent size (V)8.0+2.2
−2.8′[2]
Other designations
Boo II,[2] PGC 4713552

Bootes II is one of the smallest and faintest satellites[note 2] of the Milky Way—its integrated luminosity is about 1,000 times that of the Sun (absolute visible magnitude of about −2.7), which is much lower than the luminosity of the majority of globular clusters.[2] However the mass of the galaxy is substantial corresponding to the mass to light ratio of more than 100.[3]

The stellar population of Bootes II consists mainly of moderately old stars formed 10–12 billion years ago.[5] The metallicity of these old stars is low at [Fe/H]=−1.8, which means that they contain 80 times less heavy elements than the Sun.[3][5] Currently there is no star formation in Bootes II. The measurements have so far failed to detect any neutral hydrogen in it—the upper limit is only 86 solar masses.[6]

Bootes II is located only 1.5 degrees (~1.6 kpc) away from another dwarf galaxy—Boötes I,[4] although they are unlikely to be physically associated because they move in opposite directions relative to the Milky Way. Their relative velocity—about 200 km/s is too high. It is more likely associated with the Sagittarius Stream and, therefore, with the Sagittarius Dwarf Elliptical Galaxy (SagDEG). Bootes II may be either a satellite galaxy of SagDEG or one of its star clusters torn from the main galaxy 4–7 billion years ago.[5]

Notes
  1. Other sources give the half-light radius of about 36 pc.[3]
  2. Only Segue 1, Segue 2 and Willman 1 are fainter.[2]
gollark: Not all religions say "be peaceful and not mean to each other", though?
gollark: I mean, if you believe Religion 1 and believe that everyone who believes Religion 2 will go to hell and suffer forever, then you obviously don't want Religion 2 to spread.
gollark: They're pretty rational if you actually believe your religion is true, though.
gollark: Looking at religious conflicts probably doesn't require knowing about all the deep details of the religions involved, because people do tribalism and probably do not meaningfully care about the actual underlying point.
gollark: You can just study history, though.

References
  1. "NAME Bootes II". SIMBAD. Centre de données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 2010-02-13.
  2. Martin, Nicolas F.; de Jong, Jelte T. A.; Rix, Hans-Walter (September 2008). "A Comprehensive Maximum Likelihood Analysis of the Structural Properties of Faint Milky Way Satellites". The Astrophysical Journal. 684 (2): 1075. arXiv:0805.2945. Bibcode:2008ApJ...684.1075M. doi:10.1086/590336.
  3. Walsh, S.M.; Willman, B.; Sand, D.; et al. (2008). "Boötes II ReBoöted: An MMT/MegaCam Study of an Ultrafaint Milky Way Satellite". The Astrophysical Journal. 688 (1): 245–253. arXiv:0712.3054. Bibcode:2008ApJ...688..245W. doi:10.1086/592076.
  4. Walsh, S.M.; Jerjen, H.; Willman, B. (June 2007). "A Pair of Boötes: A New Milky Way Satellite". The Astrophysical Journal. 662 (2): L83–L86. arXiv:0705.1378. Bibcode:2007ApJ...662L..83W. doi:10.1086/519684.
  5. Koch, Andreas; Wilkinson, Mark I.; Kleyna, Jan T.; et al. (January 2009). "A Spectroscopic Confirmation of the Bootes II Dwarf Spheroidal". The Astrophysical Journal. 690 (1): 453–462. arXiv:0809.0700. Bibcode:2009ApJ...690..453K. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/690/1/453.
  6. Grcevich, Jana; Putman, Mary E. (May 2009). "H I in Local Group Dwarf Galaxies and Stripping by the Galactic Halo". The Astrophysical Journal. 696 (1): 385. arXiv:0901.4975. Bibcode:2009ApJ...696..385G. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/696/1/385.


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