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Serendipitous discovery of a thin stellar stream near the Galactic bulge in the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey

Bernard, E.J.; Ferguson, A.M.N.; Schlafly, E.F.; Abbas, M.; Bell, E.F.; Deacon, N.R.; Martin, N.F.; Rix, H.-W.; Sesar, B.; Slater, C.T.; Peñarrubia, J.; Wyse, R.F.G.; Burgett, W.S.; Chambers, K.C.; Draper, P.W.; Hodapp, K.W.; Kaiser, N.; Kudritzki, R.-P.; Magnier, E.A.; Metcalfe, N.; Morgan, J.S.; Price, P.A.; Tonry, J.L.; Wainscoat, R.J.; Waters, C.

Serendipitous discovery of a thin stellar stream near the Galactic bulge in the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey Thumbnail


Authors

E.J. Bernard

A.M.N. Ferguson

E.F. Schlafly

M. Abbas

E.F. Bell

N.R. Deacon

N.F. Martin

H.-W. Rix

B. Sesar

C.T. Slater

J. Peñarrubia

R.F.G. Wyse

W.S. Burgett

K.C. Chambers

K.W. Hodapp

N. Kaiser

R.-P. Kudritzki

E.A. Magnier

J.S. Morgan

P.A. Price

J.L. Tonry

R.J. Wainscoat

C. Waters



Abstract

We report the discovery of a thin stellar stream found in Pan-STARRS1 photometry near the Galactic bulge in the constellation of Ophiuchus. It appears as a coherent structure in the colour-selected stellar density maps produced to search for tidal debris around nearby globular clusters. The stream is exceptionally short and narrow; it is about 2 ∘.5 long and 6 arcmin wide in projection. The colour–magnitude diagram of this object, which harbours a blue horizontal-branch, is consistent with an old and relatively metal-poor population ([Fe/H] ∼−1.3) located 9.5 ± 0.9 kpc away at (l, b) ∼ (5°, +32°), and 5.0 ± 1.0 kpc from the Galactic centre. These properties argue for a globular cluster as progenitor. The finding of such a prominent, nearby stream suggests that many streams could await discovery in the more densely populated regions of our Galaxy.

Citation

Bernard, E., Ferguson, A., Schlafly, E., Abbas, M., Bell, E., Deacon, N., …Waters, C. (2014). Serendipitous discovery of a thin stellar stream near the Galactic bulge in the Pan-STARRS1 3π Survey. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters, 443(1), L84-L88. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slu089

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Jun 6, 2014
Publication Date Sep 1, 2014
Deposit Date Jun 16, 2015
Publicly Available Date Mar 29, 2024
Journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society: Letters
Electronic ISSN 1745-3933
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 443
Issue 1
Pages L84-L88
DOI https://doi.org/10.1093/mnrasl/slu089
Keywords Surveys, Globular clusters: general, Galaxy: halo, Galaxy: structure.

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Copyright Statement
This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society : letters. ©: 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.





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