• DOI:10.1017/S1743921307009003
• Corpus ID: 119058120

Detection of a stellar halo in NGC 4244

@article{Seth2006DetectionOA,
  title={Detection of a stellar halo in NGC 4244},
  author={Anil C. Seth and Roelof de Jong and Julianne J. Dalcanton and T. Narita Harvard-Smithsonian CfA and Stsci and University of Washington},
  journal={Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union},
  year={2006},
  volume={2},
  pages={523 - 524}
}

• A. Seth, R. D. Jong, +3 authors U. Washington
• Published 1 December 2006
• Physics
• Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union

Abstract We present the preliminary detection of a stellar halo in the nearby, edge-on galaxy, NGC 4244. Using data from the Hubble Space Telescope's Advanced Camera for Surveys (HST/ACS), we have examined number counts of red giant branch (RGB) stars along the minor axis of the galaxy out to 10 kpc, with a limiting surface brightness of μR ∼ 31 mag/arcsec2. At distances more than 2.5 kpc above the disk, a second stellar component is clearly visible. This component is well fit by either an exponential or a power law. The best-fit exponential scale height is similar to the scale length of the galaxy disk, suggesting that we are indeed detecting a halo component. Furthermore, the color of the RGB stars above 2.5 kpc are significantly bluer than those in the disk, suggesting a more metal-poor population. Outside the local group, this finding represents one of the first detections of a resolved stellar halo in a spiral galaxy.