The Bullseye: HST, Keck/KCWI, and Dragonfly Characterization of a Giant Nine-Ringed Galaxy

Fuente: arXiv
Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Pasha, Imad, van Dokkum, Pieter G., Liu, Qing, Bowman, William P., Janssens, Steven R., Keim, Michael A., Neufeld, Chloe, Abraham, Roberto
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
_version_ 1866912231999930368
author Pasha, Imad
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Liu, Qing
Bowman, William P.
Janssens, Steven R.
Keim, Michael A.
Neufeld, Chloe
Abraham, Roberto
author_facet Pasha, Imad
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Liu, Qing
Bowman, William P.
Janssens, Steven R.
Keim, Michael A.
Neufeld, Chloe
Abraham, Roberto
contents We report the discovery and multiwavelength followup of LEDA 1313424 ("Bullseye"), a collisional ring galaxy (CRG) with nine readily-identified rings -- the most so far reported for a CRG. These data shed new light on the rapid, multi-ring phase of CRG evolution. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, we identify and measure nine ring structures, several of which are "piled up" near the center of the galaxy, while others extend to tens of kpc scales. We also identify faint patches of emission at large radii ($\sim$70 kpc) in the HST imaging, and confirm the association of this emission with the galaxy via spectroscopy. Deep ground based imaging using the Dragonfly Telephoto Array finds evidence that this patch of emission is part of an older, fading ring from the collision. We find that the locations of the detected rings are an excellent match to predictions from analytic theory, if the galaxy was a 10-ring system whose outermost ring has faded away. We identify the likely impacting galaxy via Keck/KCWI spectroscopy, finding evidence for gas extending between it and the Bullseye. The overall size of this galaxy rivals that of known Giant Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (GLSBs) such as Malin I, lending credence to the hypothesis that CRGs can evolve into GLSBs as their rings expand and fade. Analysis of the HI content in this galaxy from ALFALFA finds significantly elevated neutral hydrogen with respect to the galaxy's stellar mass, another feature in alignment with GLSB systems.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2502_09722
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle The Bullseye: HST, Keck/KCWI, and Dragonfly Characterization of a Giant Nine-Ringed Galaxy
Pasha, Imad
van Dokkum, Pieter G.
Liu, Qing
Bowman, William P.
Janssens, Steven R.
Keim, Michael A.
Neufeld, Chloe
Abraham, Roberto
Astrophysics of Galaxies
We report the discovery and multiwavelength followup of LEDA 1313424 ("Bullseye"), a collisional ring galaxy (CRG) with nine readily-identified rings -- the most so far reported for a CRG. These data shed new light on the rapid, multi-ring phase of CRG evolution. Using Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging, we identify and measure nine ring structures, several of which are "piled up" near the center of the galaxy, while others extend to tens of kpc scales. We also identify faint patches of emission at large radii ($\sim$70 kpc) in the HST imaging, and confirm the association of this emission with the galaxy via spectroscopy. Deep ground based imaging using the Dragonfly Telephoto Array finds evidence that this patch of emission is part of an older, fading ring from the collision. We find that the locations of the detected rings are an excellent match to predictions from analytic theory, if the galaxy was a 10-ring system whose outermost ring has faded away. We identify the likely impacting galaxy via Keck/KCWI spectroscopy, finding evidence for gas extending between it and the Bullseye. The overall size of this galaxy rivals that of known Giant Low Surface Brightness Galaxies (GLSBs) such as Malin I, lending credence to the hypothesis that CRGs can evolve into GLSBs as their rings expand and fade. Analysis of the HI content in this galaxy from ALFALFA finds significantly elevated neutral hydrogen with respect to the galaxy's stellar mass, another feature in alignment with GLSB systems.
title The Bullseye: HST, Keck/KCWI, and Dragonfly Characterization of a Giant Nine-Ringed Galaxy
topic Astrophysics of Galaxies
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2502.09722