1996/07/30 by V. A. Lipovetsky, F. Chaffee, Lipovetsky, V. A. +13
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.astro-ph/9607164
18 pages and 2 Postscript figures, uses aasms4.sty. Submitted to Astrophysical Journal Letters
arxiv created 1996/07/30 · openalex publication_date 1996/07/30 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We present Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT) spectrophotometry and 3.5m Calar Alto telescope R, I photometry of the western component of the extremely low-metallicity blue compact galaxy SBS 0335-052. We argue that both components, separated by 24 kpc, are members of an unique, physically connected system. It is shown that SBS 0335-052W has the same redshift as SBS 0335-052 and has an extremely low oxygen abundance, 12 + log (O/H) = 7.45+-0.22, comparable to those in I Zw 18 and SBS 0335--052. The (R-I) color profiles are very blue in both galaxies due to the combined effect of ionized gas and a young stellar population. We argue that SBS 0335--052W is likely to be a nearby young dwarf galaxy with age not exceeding 108 yr. The implications of this conclusion to the question of galaxy formation and to the properties of primeval dwarf galaxies are discussed.