2023ApJ...951...26C


Query : 2023ApJ...951...26C

2023ApJ...951...26C - Astrophys. J., 951, 26 (2023/July-1)

Distant Echoes of the Milky Way's Last Major Merger.

CHANDRA V., NAIDU R.P., CONROY C., JI A.P., RIX H.-W., BONACA A., CARGILE P.A., HAN J.J., JOHNSON B.D., TING Y.-S., WOODY T. and ZARITSKY D.

Abstract (from CDS):

The majority of the Milky Way's stellar halo consists of debris from our galaxy's last major merger, the Gaia-Sausage-Enceladus (GSE). In the past few years, stars from the GSE have been kinematically and chemically studied in the inner 30 kpc of our galaxy. However, simulations predict that accreted debris could lie at greater distances, forming substructures in the outer halo. Here we derive metallicities and distances using Gaia DR3 XP spectra for an all-sky sample of luminous red giant stars, and map the outer halo with kinematics and metallicities out to 100 kpc. We obtain follow-up spectra of stars in two strong overdensities-including the previously identified outer Virgo Overdensity-and find them to be relatively metal rich and on predominantly retrograde orbits, matching predictions from simulations of the GSE merger. We argue that these are apocentric shells of GSE debris, forming 60-90 kpc counterparts to the 15-20 kpc shells that are known to dominate the inner stellar halo. Extending our search across the sky with literature radial velocities, we find evidence for a coherent stream of retrograde stars encircling the Milky Way from 50 to 100 kpc, in the same plane as the Sagittarius Stream but moving in the opposite direction. These are the first discoveries of distant and structured imprints from the GSE merger, cementing the picture of an inclined and retrograde collision that built up our galaxy's stellar halo.

Abstract Copyright: © 2023. The Author(s). Published by the American Astronomical Society.

Journal keyword(s): Milky Way stellar halo - Stellar streams - Galaxy mergers - Milky Way formation - Milky Way Galaxy

Simbad objects: 40

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Number of rows : 40
N Identifier Otype ICRS (J2000)
RA
ICRS (J2000)
DEC
Mag U Mag B Mag V Mag R Mag I Sp type #ref
1850 - 2026
#notes
1 ZTF J000706.18+161221.8 LP* 00 07 06.1838183942 +16 12 21.735204905           ~ 3 0
2 Gaia DR3 2431365283865625472 * 00 16 07.5825368675 -06 18 26.339033168           ~ 1 0
3 Gaia DR3 2540409830586618240 * 00 18 03.0456729252 -03 30 31.331656638           ~ 1 0
4 NAME Magellanic Stream HVC 00 32 -30.0           ~ 1079 1
5 Gaia DR3 2554005502317914112 * 00 35 08.7150993496 +04 05 44.529442419           ~ 1 0
6 Gaia DR3 2529777385642667136 * 00 50 08.9252225936 -02 05 58.506081788           ~ 1 0
7 Gaia DR3 2552533462406653696 * 00 51 47.6614888724 +04 30 51.178349990           ~ 1 0
8 Gaia DR3 2549636867743405952 * 00 51 55.2210147198 +01 34 41.514292565           ~ 1 0
9 NAME SMC G 00 52 38.0 -72 48 01   2.79 2.2     ~ 12317 1
10 Gaia DR3 2372535196962774912 * 00 52 46.2253942451 -14 17 30.216520177           ~ 1 0
11 Gaia DR3 2469715257305762560 * 01 08 20.6838707258 -11 28 03.996744397           ~ 1 0
12 Gaia DR3 2534734362017687680 * 01 12 15.1480666353 +00 06 04.672009451           ~ 1 0
13 Gaia DR3 2583539312352584960 * 01 15 16.8294858930 +11 42 58.057226394           ~ 1 0
14 Gaia DR3 2454879993588592512 * 01 15 28.7064669710 -15 16 50.637239297           ~ 1 0
15 Gaia DR3 2578800279797928576 * 01 19 39.8787782779 +09 08 21.039336362           ~ 1 0
16 NAME EriPhe Overdensity G 01 54 -55.0           ~ 30 0
17 NAME Sagittarius Stream St* 02 22 +00.0           ~ 1001 0
18 NAME Magellanic Clouds GrG 03 00 -71.0           ~ 7988 0
19 NAME LMC G 05 23 34.6 -69 45 22     0.4     ~ 19090 0
20 Gaia DR3 3629830484239963392 * 13 08 52.6788653018 -05 07 38.652944403           ~ 1 0
21 Gaia DR3 3635542382722531072 * 13 14 23.8048823911 -05 42 14.628588083           ~ 1 0
22 Gaia DR3 3636560530489773312 * 13 21 04.1595888881 -03 05 02.645702261           ~ 1 0
23 Gaia DR3 3637038882471985536 * 13 26 08.0987393743 -03 24 23.408896834           ~ 2 0
24 Gaia DR3 3637178009347886976 * 13 29 02.4708640701 -02 52 49.415554144           ~ 2 0
25 MGC 48393 * 13 36 05.5112442480 -00 11 32.422943580   18.89       ~ 3 0
26 2MASS J13450202-0017369 LP? 13 45 02.0290509681 -00 17 36.803714895           ~ 8 0
27 Gaia DR3 3618701644156259840 * 13 52 49.8515727771 -08 55 17.109068930           ~ 2 0
28 Gaia DR3 3656976434192873088 * 13 53 27.4159935217 -04 15 26.029767157           ~ 2 0
29 Gaia DR3 3619451541150749696 * 14 00 56.8309171652 -07 09 51.732820907           ~ 1 0
30 Gaia DR3 3659398314711482624 * 14 06 02.5982233742 -01 10 58.670455719           ~ 1 0
31 Gaia DR3 3640443314069314432 * 14 06 13.2418151368 -06 49 29.707281827           ~ 2 0
32 Gaia DR3 3639801478451745152 * 14 19 41.8315291276 -07 13 07.367709344           ~ 2 0
33 NAME Hercules Aquila Cloud reg 19 04 +06.3           ~ 138 0
34 Gaia DR3 2664334794016300288 * 23 14 59.4887162275 +06 28 52.244759534           ~ 1 0
35 Gaia DR3 2657602587398571904 * 23 15 51.4412278744 +01 48 53.848352609           ~ 1 0
36 NAME Pisces Overdensity G 23 19.0 +00 00           ~ 65 0
37 SDSS J233414.79+094511.3 * 23 34 14.7960691550 +09 45 11.315147489           K2III 2 0
38 Gaia DR3 2438768536173626752 * 23 38 40.8647107317 -08 47 11.666059580           ~ 1 0
39 NAME Virgo Overdensity reg ~ ~           ~ 53 0
40 NAME Gaia Enceladus-Sausage St* ~ ~           ~ 860 0

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