Andromeda XXI

"Andromeda 21" redirects here. For the star, see 21 Andromedae.
Andromeda XXI
Observation data
Constellation Andromeda
Right ascension 23h 54m 47.7s [1]
Declination +42° 28′ 15″ [1]
Distance 859 ± 51 kiloparsecs (2.80 ± 0.17 Mly) [2]
Type dSph
Apparent magnitude (V) 9.9 ± 0.6
Notable features Satellite galaxy
of Andromeda
Other designations
Andromeda XXI , And XXI , And 21

Andromeda XXI (And 21, And XXI) is a moderately bright dwarf spheroidal galaxy about 859 ± 51 kiloparsecs (2.80 ± 0.17 Mly) away from the Sun in the constellation Andromeda. It is the fourth largest Local Group dwarf spheroidal galaxy.

This large satellite of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) has a half-light radius of nearly 1 kpc.[2]

The discovery arose from the first year data of a photometric survey of the M31/M33 subgroupings of the Local Group by the Pan-Andromeda Archaeological Survey (PAndAS). This survey was conducted with the Megaprime/MegaCam wide-field camera mounted on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope.

Andromeda XXI appears as a spatial overdensity of stars. It has red giant branches at the distance of M31/M33, and follows metal-poor, [Fe/H]=-1.8 when plotted in a color-magnitude diagram.

Although moderately bright (MV=-9.9 ± 0.6), it has low surface brightness. This indicates that numerous relatively luminous M31 satellites remain undiscovered.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 SIMBAD, "Andromeda XXI" (accessed 2011 April 2)
  2. 1 2 Nicolas F. Martin, Alan W. McConnachie, Mike Irwin, Lawrence M. Widrow, Annette M. N. Ferguson, Rodrigo A. Ibata, John Dubinski, Arif Babul, Scott Chapman, Mark Fardal, Geraint F. Lewis, Julio Navarro, R. Michael Rich; "PAndAS' cubs: discovery of two new dwarf galaxies in the surroundings of the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies"; The Astrophysical Journal, Volume 705, Issue 1, pp. 758-765 (2009); doi:10.1088/0004-637X/705/1/758; Bibcode: 2009ApJ...705..758M; arXiv:0909.0399;


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