Search

We have found the peculiar galaxy NGC922 to be a new drop-through ring galaxy using multi-wavelength (UV-radio) imaging and spectroscopic observations. Its `C'-shaped morphology and tidal plume indicate a recent strong interaction with its companion which was identified with these observations. Using numerical simulations we demonstrate that the main properties of the system can be generated by a high-speed off-axis drop-through collision of a small galaxy with a larger disk system, thus making NGC922 one of the nearest known collisional ring galaxies. While these systems are rare in the local Universe, recent deep HST images suggest they were more common in the early Universe., 5 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letters

The possibility of a gaseous halo stream which was stripped from the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy is presented. The total mass of the neutral hydrogen along the orbit of the Sgr dwarf in the direction of the Galactic anticenter is 4-10 x 10^6 Msun (at 36 kpc, the distance to the stellar debris in this region). Both the stellar and gaseous components have negative velocities in this part of the sky, but the gaseous component extends to higher negative velocities. We suggest this gaseous stream was stripped from the main body of the dwarf 0.2 - 0.3 Gyr ago during its current orbit after a passage through a diffuse edge of the Galactic disk with a density > 10^{-4} cm^{-3}. The gas would then represent the dwarf's last source of star formation fuel and explains how the galaxy was forming stars 0.5-2 Gyr ago., To appear in IAU Symp. 217, Recycling Intergalactic and Interstellar Matter, eds. P. Duc, J. Braine, E. Brinks

We have discovered a number of very small isolated HII regions 20-30 kpc from their nearest galaxy. The HII regions appear as tiny emission line dots (ELdots) in narrow band images obtained by the NOAO Survey for Ionization in Neutral Gas Galaxies (SINGG). We have spectroscopic confirmation of 5 isolated HII regions in 3 systems. The H-alpha luminosities of the HII regions are equivalent to the ionizing flux of only 1 large or a few small OB stars each. These stars appear to have formed in situ and represent atypical star formation in the low density environment of galaxy outskirts. In situ star formation in the intergalactic medium offers an alternative to galactic wind models to explain metal enrichment. In interacting systems (2 out of 3), isolated HII regions could be a starting point for tidal dwarf galaxies., To appear in the proceedings of the IAU Symposium #217, Recycling Intergalactic and Interstellar Matter, eds. P.-A. Duc, J. Braine, and E. Brinks, 6 pages with 3 figures. Paper with high resolution images can be downloaded from http://astro.ph.unimelb.edu.au/~eryan/publications/eldots_IAU.ps.gz

We present a new accurate measurement of the HI mass function of galaxies from the HIPASS Bright Galaxy Catalog, a sample of 1000 galaxies with the highest HI peak flux densities in the southern hemisphere (Koribalski et al. 2003). This sample spans nearly four orders of magnitude in HI mass (from log M_HI/M_sun=6.8 to 10.6, H0=75) and is the largest sample of HI selected galaxies to date. We develop a bivariate maximum likelihood technique to measure the space density of galaxies, and show that this is a robust method, insensitive to the effects of large scale structure. The resulting HI mass function can be fitted satisfactorily with a Schechter function with faint-end slope alpha=-1.30. This slope is found to be dependent on morphological type, with later type galaxies giving steeper slopes. We extensively test various effects that potentially bias the determination of the HI mass function, including peculiar motions of galaxies, large scale structure, selection bias, and inclination effects, and quantify these biases. The large sample of galaxies enables an accurate measurement of the cosmological mass density of neutral gas: Omega_HI=(3.8 +/- 0.6) x 10^{-4}. Low surface brightness galaxies contribute only 15% to this value, consistent with previous findings., Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomical Journal, 16 pages, including 17 figures. Corrected typos and references

We present a comparison of the leftover satellites at z=0 in a cold dark matter dominated simulation of the formation of the Local Group to the distribution of observed neutral hydrogen high-velocity clouds and compact high-velocity clouds. The ~2000 leftover satellites in the simulation have dark matter masses which range between 0.5 to 10 x 10^9 Msun, sizes between 3 to 30 kpc, and distances between 100 kpc and 2 Mpc. The dark matter halos show a clear bias in their distribution towards M31 and to a lesser extent towards the Local Group anti-barycenter. If the Local Group halos contain ~1% of their dark matter mass in neutral hydrogen they should have been easily detected by the current HI surveys. The only HI objects detected with the potential to be the Local Group halos are the high-velocity clouds. Here the spatial, kinematic, and HI flux properties of the clouds and dark matter halos are compared. Several different subsets of halos which may be more likely to contain neutral hydrogen are investigated, and the HVCs are found to have some similar properties to those halos within 500 kpc of the Galaxy and those halos with dark matter masses > 2 x 10^8 Msun. The compact high-velocity clouds do not show similar properties to the halos., 11 pages (incl. 5 figures), to appear in "Extragalactic Gas at Low Redshift", ed. J. Mulchaey & J. Stocke, ASP conference series, in press 2002

Significant numbers of high-velocity HI clouds (HVCs) have now been detected in H-alpha, with a subset seen in low ionization lines (e.g. [NII]). It was originally hoped that the observed H-alpha strength would provide a distance constraint to individual clouds. This idea requires that a useful fraction (f_esc > 1%) of ionizing photons escape the Galaxy, and that the halo ionizing field is relatively smooth, as we discuss. Most HVCs which are known to be close to the Sun are H-alpha; the brightest clouds also show enhanced [NII] emission, in contrast to the Magellanic Stream where the low ionization emission lines are always weak compared to H-alpha. But an acute complication for H-alpha distances is the apparent H-alpha brightness of the Magellanic Stream along several sight lines. To account for this, we present three possible configurations for the Magellanic Stream and propose a follow-up experiment. If we normalize the distances to local HVCs, some HVCs appear to be scattered throughout the Galactic halo on scales of tens of kiloparsecs., 14 pages, 6 figures; delayed submission due to embargo on HIPASS map. To appear in Gas & Galaxy Evolution, ASP Conf. 240, 369-382 (2001), eds. J.E. Hibbard, M.P. Rupen, J.H. van Gorkom

We report the discovery, from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS), of an isolated cloud of neutral hydrogen which we believe to be extragalactic. The HI mass of the cloud (HIPASS J1712-64) is very low, 1.7 x 10^7 Msun, using an estimated distance of ~3.2 Mpc. Most significantly, we have found no optical companion to this object to very faint limits (mu(B)~ 27 mag arcsec^-2). HIPASS J1712-64 appears to be a binary system similar to, but much less massive than, HI 1225+01 (the Virgo HI Cloud) and has a size of at least 15 kpc. The mean velocity dispersion, measured with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA), is only 4 km/s for the main component and because of the weak or non-existent star-formation, possibly reflects the thermal linewidth (T, 23 pages, 7 figures, AJ accepted

The results of the interaction between the Milky Way and the Magellanic Clouds are revealed through several high velocity complexes which are connected to the Clouds. The exact mechanism of their formation is under some debate, but they remain the only group of high-velocity clouds (HVCs) for which we have an origin and roughly a distance. Given that, the Magellanic HVCs can be used as a calibrator for other HVCs, while also providing an opportunity to closely investigate the remnants of an interacting system. These HVCs may hold the key to the star formation history, kinematic structure, and present Hubble type of the Magellanic Clouds, and their proximity to the Milky Way allows us to estimate key Galactic parameters. The HVCs related to the Magellanic System can be classified into three major complexes: the Magellanic Bridge, an HI connection between the Clouds; the Magellanic Stream, which trails the clouds and is one of the largest HI features in the sky outside of our Galaxy; and the Leading Arm, a more diffuse HI filament which leads the Clouds. In terms of HVCs, these features have been studied rather extensively. In this review, I will first describe the observational results for each complex and subsequently discuss their origin and relationship to the overall HVC population. All of the HI data presented are from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) (Barnes et al. 2001; Putman et al. 2001)., 21 pages, 6 figures in gif format, chapter for the book "High-Velocity Clouds" (Kluwer: Dordrecht), edited by H. van Woerden, U. Schwarz, B. Wakker and K. de Boer

Interactions between galaxies are common and are an important factor in determining their physical properties such as position along the Hubble sequence and star-formation rate. There are many possible galaxy interaction mechanisms, including merging, ram-pressure stripping, gas compression, gravitational interaction and cluster tides. The relative importance of these mechanisms is often not clear, as their strength depends on poorly known parameters such as the density, extent and nature of the massive dark halos that surround galaxies. A nearby example of a galaxy interaction where the mechanism is controversial is that between our own Galaxy and two of its neighbours -- the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds. Here we present the first results of a new HI survey which provides a spectacular view of this interaction. In addition to the previously known Magellanic Stream, which trails 100 degrees behind the Clouds, the new data reveal a counter-stream which lies in the opposite direction and leads the motion of the Clouds. This result supports the gravitational model in which leading and trailing streams are tidally torn from the body of the Magellanic Clouds., 17 pages with 5 figures in gif format, scheduled for publication in the August 20th, 1998 issue of Nature

The Fornax cluster galaxy FCC 35 shows an unusual multiply-peaked integrated HI profile (Bureau, Mould & Staveley-Smith 1996). We have now observed FCC 35 with the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) and have found a compact HI source with M_{HI} = 2.2 x 10^{8} M_{sun}, and a spatially overlapping complex of HI gas with the same mass. By combining optical observations with the HI data, we are able to identify FCC 35 as a young compact source of star formation with a nearby intergalactic HI cloud which is devoid of stars. We classify FCC 35 as a blue compact dwarf (BCD) or HII galaxy, having large amounts of neutral hydrogen, very blue colors ((U-V) = 0.1), and a low metallicity spectrum with strong narrow emission lines. Together with the presence of the HI cloud, this suggests that FCC 35 is the result of a recent interaction within the Fornax cluster., 16 pages, 7 tables, 14 figures, LaTeX, also available at http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~putman/pubs.html To appear in the June AJ

We present an analysis of high-resolution HI data of one of the cores of HVC187 Wakker & van Woerden 1991), HVC287+22+240. Structure is present down to the lowest-measurable scale (~1 arcmin) and several concentrations appear to be unresolved. Most of the cores seen at low resolution break up into smaller subcores at higher resolution. The typical volume density and pressure are estimated to be ~30/R/D(kpc) cm^{-3} and ~18000/R/D(kpc) K cm^{-3}, respectively, where R is the resolution in arcmin and D(kpc) the unknown distance in kpc., 5 pages; LaTeX; to be published in: Proceedings of the 3rd Stromlo Symposium, eds. B.K. Gibson, T.S. Axelrod and M.E. Putman (ASP Conf. Ser.)

The first results from the HI Parkes All-Sky Survey (HIPASS) provide a spectacular view of the global HI distribution in the vicinity of the Magellanic Clouds and the southern Milky Way. A 2400 square degree mosaic around the South Celestial Pole (SCP) reveals the existence of a narrow, continuous counter-stream which 'leads' the direction of motion of the Clouds, i.e. opposite in direction to the Stream. This strongly supports the gravitational model for the Stream in which the leading and trailing streams are tidally torn from the body of the Magellanic Clouds. The data also reveal additional tidal features in the Bridge region which appear to emanate from the LMC, and a distinct spiral structure within the LMC itself., Comment: 3 pages and 3 figures in gif format, LaTex, also available at http://msowww.anu.edu.au/~putman/pubs.html To appear in IAU Symp.190, New Views of the Magellanic Clouds, eds. Chu et al

Halo clouds have been found about the three largest galaxies of the Local Group and in the halos of nearby spirals. This suggests they are a relatively generic feature of the galaxy evolution process and a source of fuel for galaxy disks. In this review, two main sources of disk star formation fuel, satellite material and clouds condensing from the hot halo medium, are discussed and their contribution to fueling the Galaxy quantified. The origin of the halo gas of M31 and M33 is also discussed., 10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Formation and Evolution of Galaxy Disks, ASP Conf. Proc., eds. J.G. Funes & E.M. Corsini, reference list updated