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Title:
Stellar Velocities in the Carina, Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans dSph Galaxies: Data From the Magellan/MMFS Survey
Authors:
Walker, Matthew G.; Mateo, Mario; Olszewski, Edward W.
Affiliation:
AA(Institute of Astronomy, University of Cambridge, UK ; Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA ; ), AB(Department of Astronomy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA ), AC(Steward Observatory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA)
Publication:
The Astronomical Journal, Volume 137, Issue 2, pp. 3100-3108 (2009). (AJ Homepage)
Publication Date:
02/2009
Origin:
IOP
AJ Keywords:
galaxies: dwarf, galaxies: individual: Carina Fornax Sculptor Sextans, galaxies: kinematics and dynamics, Local Group, techniques: radial velocities
DOI:
10.1088/0004-6256/137/2/3100
Bibliographic Code:
2009AJ....137.3100W

Abstract

We present spectroscopic data for individual stars observed from 2004 March through 2008 August as part of our Michigan/MIKE Fiber System (MMFS) survey of four dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies: Carina, Fornax, Sculptor, and Sextans. Using MMFS at the Magellan/Clay Telescope at Las Campanas Observatory, we have acquired 8855 spectra from 7103 red-giant candidates in these Galactic satellites. We list measurements of each star's line-of-sight velocity (median error ±2.1 km s-1) and spectral line indices for iron and magnesium absorption features. We use globular cluster spectra to calibrate the indices onto standard [Fe/H] metallicity scales, but comparison of the resulting metallicities with published values suggests that the MMFS indices are best used as indicators of relative, not absolute, metallicity. The empirical distributions of velocity and spectral indices also allow us to quantify the amount of contamination by foreground stars. In a companion paper, we develop an algorithm that evaluates the membership probability for each star, showing that the present MMFS sample contains more than 5000 dSph members, including 774 Carina members, 2483 Fornax members, 1365 Sculptor members, and 441 Sextans members.

This paper presents data gathered with the 6.5 m Magellan Telescopes at Las Campanas Observatory, Chile.

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