Tidal Streams in Newly Discovered Compact Elliptical (cE) Galaxies
arXiv:1009.3185 · doi:10.1051/eas/1148058
Abstract
We present two newly-discovered, compact elliptical (cE) galaxies, which exhibit clear evidence of tidal steams, found in a search of SDSS DR7. The structural parameters of the cEs are derived using GALFIT and give effective radii < 400 pc. They also possess young to intermediate-age stellar populations. These two cEs provide direct evidence, a "smoking gun", for the process of tidal stripping that is believed to be the origin of M32-type galaxies. Both are found in small group environments with many late-type galaxies, suggesting that we may be seeing the formation of such galaxies in dynamically young galaxy groups.
2 pages, 3 figs, in Proc. of conference "A Universe of Dwarf Galaxies", Lyon, France, June 2010. New version with minor corrections