Andromeda X, A New Dwarf Spheroidal Satellite of M31: Photometry

Zucker, D B
Kniazev, A Yu
Martínez-Delgado, D
Bell, E F
Rix, H W
Grebel, E K
Holtzman, J A
Walterbos, R A M
Rockosi, C M
York, D G
Barentine, J C
Brewington, H
Brinkmann, J
Harvanek, M
Kleinman, S J
Krzesínski, J
Long, D
Neilsen, E H
Nitta, A
Snedden, S A

Publication date

January 2006

Abstract

We report the discovery of Andromeda X, a new dwarf spheroidal satellite of M31, based on stellar photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using follow-up imaging data we have estimated its distance and other physical properties. We find that Andromeda X has a dereddened central surface brightness of mu_V,0 ~ 26.7 mag arcsec^-2 and a total apparent magnitude of V_tot ~ 16.1, which at the derived distance modulus, (m - M)_0 ~ 24.12 - 24.34, yields an absolute magnitude of M_V ~ -8.1 +/- 0.5; these values are quite comparable to those of Andromeda IX, a previously-discovered low luminosity M31 satellite. The discoveries of Andromeda IX and Andromeda X suggest that such extremely faint satellites may be plentiful in the Local Group