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Ultra-Compact Dwarf Galaxies in Galaxy Clusters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 March 2013

Michael J. Drinkwater*
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Queensland, Brisbane QLD 4072, Australia
Michael D. Gregg
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, L-413, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Warrick J. Couch
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New SouthWales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
Henry C. Ferguson
Affiliation:
Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dve, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
Michael Hilker
Affiliation:
Sternwarte der Universität Bonn, 53121 Bonn, Germany
J. Bryn Jones
Affiliation:
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, Nottingham NG7 2RD, UK
Arna Karick
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC 3010, Australia
Steven Phillipps
Affiliation:
Astrophysics Group, Department of Physics, University of Bristol, Bristol BS8 1TL, UK
*
JCorresponding author. Email: mjd@physics.uq.edu.au
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Abstract

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We review the evidence that the ultra-compact dwarf (UCD) galaxies we recently discovered in the Fornax Cluster form a new, previously unknown class of galaxies and we discuss possible scenarios for their formation. We then present recent results that UCDs are also present in the Virgo Cluster, and that there is a much larger than expected population of fainter UCDs in the Fornax Cluster. The size and properties of this population may lead us to revise our original ‘galaxy threshing’ hypothesis for the formation of UCDs.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2004

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