2007/06/30 by Dong-Woo Kim, Dong‐Woo Kim, Eunhyeuk Kim +2 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysical Phenomena and Observations #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/592211
ApJ accepted to appear in the 2008 December 1 issue; Added discussion on sloshing
arxiv created 2008/09/25 · openalex publication_date 2008/11/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present new observational results of NGC 7619, an elliptical galaxy with a prominent X-ray tail and a dominant member of the Pegasus group. With Chandra and XMM-Newton observations, we confirm the presence of a long X-ray tail in the SW direction; moreover, we identify for the first time a sharp discontinuity of the X-ray surface brightness in the opposite (NE) side of the galaxy. The density, temperature and pressure jump at the NE discontinuity suggest a Mach number ~1, corresponding to a galaxy velocity of ~500 km s-1, relative to the surrounding hot gas. Spectral analysis of these data shows that the Iron abundance of the hot gaseous medium is much higher (1-2 solar) near the center of NGC 7619 and in the tail extending from the core than in the surrounding regions (< 1/2 solar), indicating that the gas in the tail is originated from the galaxy. The possible origin of the head-tail structure is either on-going ram-pressure stripping or sloshing. The morphology of the structure is more in line with a ram pressure stripping phenomenon, while the position of NGC 7619 at the center of the Pegasus I group, and its dominance, would prefer sloshing.