1999/10/21 by I. D. Karachentsev, M. E. Sharina, E. K. Grebel +7
Physics and Astronomy · #astro-ph
published as 1999, A&A, 352, 399-405 · Astronomy & Astrophysics Main Journal, accepted. 7 figures (2 jpg images, 5 postscript files)
arxiv created 1999/10/21 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We present ground-based and HST WFPC2 imaging of the nearby low surface brightness dwarf spheroidal galaxy DDO 44. For the first time DDO 44 was resolved into stars. The resulting color-magnitude diagram for about 1290 stars shows the red giant branch with a tip at I=(23.55+-0.15) mag, which yields a distance of (3.2+-0.2) Mpc consistent with membership of DDO 44 in the NGC 2403 group. The linear separation of DDO 44 from NGC 2403 is 75 kpc on the sky and (30+-450) kpc along the line of sight. The relationship between the dwarf galaxy's absolute R magnitude of -13.1 mag, its central surface brightness of 24.1 mag/square arcsec, and its mean metallicity of -1.7 dex follow the trend for other nearby dwarf spheroidal galaxies. One globular cluster candidate has also been identified in DDO 44.