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Galactic Halo Stellar Structures in the Triangulum-Andromeda Region*

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Published 2007 October 8 © 2007. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved. Printed in U.S.A.
, , Citation Nicolas F. Martin et al 2007 ApJ 668 L123 DOI 10.1086/522791

1538-4357/668/2/L123

Abstract

This Letter reports on the Galactic stellar structures that appear in the foreground of our Canada-France-Hawaii-Telecopse/MegaCam survey of the halo of the Andromeda galaxy. We recover the main sequence and main-sequence turnoff of the Triangulum-Andromeda structure recently found by Majewski and collaborators at a heliocentric distance of ~20 kpc. The survey also reveals another less populated main sequence at fainter magnitudes that could correspond to a more distant stellar structure at ~28 kpc. Both structures are smoothly distributed over the ~76 deg2 covered by the survey, although the closer one shows an increase in density by a factor of ~2 toward the northwest. The discovery of a stellar structure behind the Triangulum-Andromeda structure that itself appears behind the low-latitude stream that surrounds the Galactic disk gives further evidence that the inner halo of the Milky Way is of a spatially clumpy nature.

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Footnotes

  • Based on observations obtained with MegaPrime/MegaCam, a joint project of CFHT and CEA/DAPNIA, at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT), which is operated by the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada, the Institut National des Science de l'Univers of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) of France, and the University of Hawaii.

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10.1086/522791