M. E. Sharina

The M 81 group of galaxies: New distances, kinematics and structure ?;??

We present Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 images of the galaxies NGC 2366, NGC 2976, NGC 4236, IC 2574, DDO 53, DDO 82, DDO 165, Holmberg I, Holmberg II, Holmberg IX, K52, K73, BK3N, Garland, and A0952+69 in the M 81 complex. Their true distance moduli, derived from the brightness of the tip of the red giant branch, lie in the range of 27: 52 (NGC 2366) to 28: 30 (DDO 165), with a median of 27: m 91, which is

Distances to nearby galaxies in Sculptor

We present an analysis of Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 images of nine nearby galaxies in Sculptor. We derive their distances from the luminosity of the tip of the red giant branch stars with a typical accuracy of ∼12%. Their distances are 4.21 Mpc (Sc 22), 4.92 Mpc (DDO 226), 3.94 Mpc (NGC 253), 3.40 Mpc (KDG 2), 3.34 Mpc (DDO 6), 3.42 Mpc (ESO 540-030), 4.43 Mpc (ESO 245-05), 4.27 Mpc (UGCA 442), and 3.91 Mpc (NGC 7793). The galaxies are concentrated in several spatially separated loose groups around NGC 300, NGC 253, and NGC 7793. The Sculptor galaxy complex together with the CVn I cloud and the Local Group form a 10 Mpc filament, apparently driven by the free Hubble flow.

New distances to galaxies in the Centaurus A group

We present Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 images of seventeen dwarf galaxies in the Centaurus A group. Their distances derived from the magnitudes of the tip of the red giant branch are 5.2 Mpc (KK112),

Local galaxy flows within 5 Mpc

We present Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 images of sixteen dwarf galaxies as part of our snapshot survey of nearby galaxy candidates. We derive their distances from the luminosity of the tip of the red giant branch stars with a typical

The Hubble Flow around the Centaurus A/M83 Galaxy Complex

We present Hubble Space Telescope ACS images and color-magnitude diagrams for 24 nearby galaxies in and near the constellation of Centaurus with radial velocities VLG < 550 km s-1. Distances are determined based on the luminosities of stars at the tip of the red giant branch that range from 3.0 to 6.5 Mpc. The galaxies are concentrated in two spatially separated groups around Cen A (NGC 5128) and M83 (NGC 5236). The Cen A group itself has a mean distance of 3.76 ± 0.05 Mpc, a velocity dispersion of 136 km s-1, a mean harmonic radius of 192 kpc, and an estimated orbital/virial mass of (6.4-8.1) × 1012 M⊙. This elliptical-dominated group is found to have a relatively high mass-to-light ratio: M/LB = 125 M⊙/L⊙. For the M83 group we derived a mean distance of 4.79 ± 0.10 Mpc, a velocity dispersion of 61 km s-1, a mean harmonic radius of 89 kpc, and an estimated orbital/virial mass of (0.8-0.9) × 1012 M⊙. This spiral-dominated group is found to have a relatively low M/LB = 34 M⊙/L⊙. The radius of the zero-velocity surface around Cen A lies at R0 = 1.40 ± 0.11 Mpc, implying a total mass within R0 of MT = (6.0 ± 1.4) × 1012 M⊙. This value is in good agreement with the Cen A orbital/virial mass estimates and provides confirmation of the relatively high M/LB of this elliptical-dominated group. The centroids of both groups, as well as surrounding field galaxies, have very small peculiar velocities, <25 km s-1, with respect to the local Hubble flow with H0 = 68 km s-1 Mpc-1.

Advanced Camera for Surveys Imaging of 25 Galaxies in Nearby Groups and in the Field

We present Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys images and color-magnitude diagrams for 25 nearby galaxies with radial velocities VLG < 500 km s-1. Distances are determined based on the luminosities of stars at the tip of the red giant branch that range from 2 to 12 Mpc. Two of the galaxies, NGC 4163 and IC 4662, are found to be the nearest known representatives of blue compact dwarf objects. Using high-quality data on distances and radial velocities of 110 nearby field galaxies, we derive their mean Hubble ratio to be 68 km s-1 Mpc-1 with a standard deviation of 15 km s-1 Mpc-1. Peculiar velocities of most of the galaxies, Vpec = VLG - 68D, follow a Gaussian distribution with σv = 63 km s-1 but with a tail toward high negative values. Our data display the known correlation between peculiar velocity and galaxy elevation above the Local Supercluster plane. The small observed fraction of galaxies with high peculiar velocities, Vpec < -500 km s-1, may be understood as objects associated with nearby groups (Coma I, Eridanus) outside the local volume.

Photometric properties of the Local Volume dwarf galaxies

We present surface photometry and metallicity measurements for 104 nearby dwarf galaxies imaged with the Advanced Camera for Surveys and Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. In addition, we carried out photometry for 26 galaxies of the sample and for Sextans B on images of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our sample comprises dwarf spheroidal, irregular and transition type galaxies located within ∼10 Mpc in the field and in nearby groups: M81, Centaurus A, Sculptor, and Canes Venatici I cloud. It is found that the early-type galaxies have on average higher metallicity at a given luminosity in comparison to the late-type objects. Dwarf galaxies with MB ≥ −12 ÷ −13 m deviate toward larger scale lengths from the scale length – luminosity relation common for spiral galaxies, h ∝ L 0.5 B . The following correlations between fundamental parameters of the galaxies are consistent with expectations if there is pronounced gas-loss through galactic winds: 1) between the luminosity of early-type dwarf galaxies and the mean metallicity of constituent red giant branch stars, Z ∼ L 0.4 , 2) between mean surface brightness within the 25 m /⊓ ′′ isophote and the corresponding absolute magnitude in the V and I bands, SB25 ∼ 0.3M25, and 3) between the central surface brightness (or effective surface brightness) and integrated absolute magnitude of galaxies in the V and I bands, SB0 ∼ 0.5ML, SBe ∼ 0.5Me. The knowledge of basic photometric parameters for a large sample of dwarf galaxies is essential for a better understanding of their evolution.

Hubble Space Telescope imaging of globular cluster candidates in low surface brightness dwarf galaxies

Fifty-seven nearby low surface brightness dwarf galaxies (−10 > MV > −16) were searched for globular cluster candidates (GCCs) using Hubble Space Telescope WFPC2 imaging in V and I. The sample consists of 18 dwarf spheroidal (dSph), 36 irregular (dIrr), and 3 “transition” type (dIrr/dSph) galaxies with angular sizes less than 3.7 kpc situated at distances 2−6 Mpc in the field and in the nearby groups: M 81, Centaurus A, Sculptor, Canes Venatici I cloud. We find that ∼50% of dSph, dIrr/dSph, and dIrr galaxies contain GCCs. The fraction of GCCs located near the center of dwarf spheroidal galaxies is >2 times higher than for dIrrs. The mean integral color of GCCs in dSphs, (V − I)0 = 1.04 ± 0.16 mag, coincides with the corresponding value for Galactic globular clusters and is similar to the blue globular cluster sub-populations in massive early-type galaxies. The color distribution for GCCs in dIrrs shows a clear bimodality with peaks near (V − I)0 = 0.5 and 1.0 mag. Blue GCCs are presumably young with ages t −6.5 mag in both dSph and dIrr galaxies, reminiscent of excess populations of faint globular clusters in nearby Local Group spiral galaxies. The measurement of structural parameters using King-profile fitting reveals that most GCCs have structural parameters similar to extended outer halo globular clusters in the Milky Way and M 31, as well as the recently discovered population of “faint fuzzy” clusters in nearby lenticular galaxies.

Systematic uncertainties in the analysis of star cluster parameters based on broad-band imaging observations

High-resolution Hubble Space Telescope (HST) imaging observations of star cluster systems provide a very interesting and useful alternative for stellar population analyses to spectroscopic studies with 8m-class telescopes. Here, we assess the systematic uncertainties in (young) cluster age, mass, and – to a lesser extent – extinction and metallicity determinations, based on broad-band imaging observations with the HST. Our aim here is to intercompare the results obtained using a variety of commonly used modelling techniques, specifically with respect to our own extensively tested multi-dimensional approach. Any significant differences among the resulting parameters are due to the details of the various, independently developed modelling techniques used, rather than to the stellar population models themselves. Despite the model uncertainties and the selection effects inherent to most methods used, we find that the peaks in the relative age and mass distributions of a given young (. 10 9 yr) cluster system can be derived relatively robustly and consistently, to accuracies of σt ≡ �h log(Age/yr)i ≤ 0.35 and σM ≡ �h log(Mcl/M⊙)i ≤ 0.14, respectively, assuming Gaussian distributions in cluster ages and masses for reasons of simplicity. The peaks in the relative mass distributions can be obtained with a higher degree of confidence than those in the relative age distributions, as exemplified by the smaller spread among the peak values of the mass distributions derived. This implies that mass determinations are mostly insensitive to the approach adopted. We reiterate that as extensive a wavelength coverage as possible is required to obtain robust and internally consistent age and mass estimates for the individual objects, with reasonable uncertainties. Finally, we conclude that the actual filter systems used for the observations should be used for constructing model colours, instead of using conversion equations, to achieve more accurate derivations of ages and masses.

Ages, metallicities and [α/Fe] ratios of globular clusters in NGC 147, 185 and 205

We present measurements of ages, metallicities and [α/Fe] ratios for 16 globular clusters (GCs) in NGC 147, 185 and 205 and of the central regions of the diffuse galaxy light in NGC 185 and 205. Our results are based on spectra obtained with the SCORPIO multislit spectrograph at the 6-m telescope of the Russian Academy of Sciences. We include in our analysis highquality Hubble Space Telescope/WFPC2 photometry of individual stars in the studied GCs to investigate the influence of their horizontal branch (HB) morphology on the spectroscopic analysis. All our sample GCs appear to be old (T > 8 Gyr) and metal-poor ([Z/H] −1.1), except for the GCs Hubble V in NGC 205 (T = 1.2 ± 0.6 Gyr, [Z/H] =− 0.6 ± 0.2), Hubble VI in NGC 205 (T = 4 ± 2 Gyr, [Z/H] =− 0.8 ± 0.2) and FJJVII in NGC 185 (T = 7 ± 3 Gyr, [Z/H] =− 0.8 ± 0.2). The majority of our GCs sample has solar [α/Fe] enhancement in contrast to the halo population of GCs in M31 and the Milky Way. The HB morphologies for our sample GCs follow the same behaviour with metallicity as younger halo Galactic GCs. We show that it is unlikely that they bias our spectroscopic age estimates based on Balmer absorption-line indices. Spectroscopic ages and metallicities of the central regions in NGC 205 and 185 coincide with those obtained from colour‐magnitude diagrams. The central field stellar populations in these galaxies have approximately the same age as their most central GCs (Hubble V in NGC 205 and FJJIII in NGC 185), but are more metal-rich than the central