The Isaac Newton Telescope monitoring survey of Local Group dwarf galaxies. I. Survey overview and first results for Andromeda I

Abstract

An optical monitoring survey in the nearby dwarf galaxies was carried out with the 2.5-m Isaac Newton Telescope (INT). 55 dwarf galaxies and four isolated globular clusters in the Local Group (LG) were observed with the Wide Field Camera (WFC). The main aims of this survey are to identify the most evolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars and red supergiants at the end-point of their evolution based on their pulsational instability, use their distribution over luminosity to reconstruct the star formation history, quantify the dust production and mass loss from modelling the multi-wavelength spectral energy distributions, and relate this to luminosity and radius variations. In this first of a series of papers, we present the methodology of the variability survey and describe the photometric catalogue of Andromeda I (And I) dwarf galaxy as an example of the survey, and discuss the identified long period variable (LPV) stars. We detected 5581 stars and identified 59 LPV candidates within two half-light radii of the centre of And I. The amplitudes of these candidates range from 0.2 to 3 mag in the $i$-band. 75 % of detected sources and 98 % of LPV candidates are detected at mid-infrared wavelengths. We show evidence for the presence of dust-producing AGB stars in this galaxy including five extreme AGB (x-AGB) stars, and model some of their spectral energy distributions. A distance modulus of 24.41 mag for And I was determined based on the tip of the red giant branch (RGB). Also, a half-light radius of 3.2 arcmin is calculated.

accepted for publication in ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Isaac Newton Telescope monitoring survey of Local Group dwarf galaxies -- IV. The star formation history of Andromeda VII derived from long period variable stars
• The Isaac Newton Telescope monitoring survey of Local Group dwarf galaxies. II. The star formation history of Andromeda I derived from long period variables
• The SAMI Galaxy Survey: Kinematics of stars and gas in brightest group galaxies; the role of group dynamics
• The Isaac Newton Telescope Monitoring Survey of Local Group Dwarf Galaxies. VI. The Star Formation History and Dust Production in Andromeda IX
• The Isaac Newton Telescope monitoring survey of Local Group dwarf galaxies--V. The star formation history of Sagittarius dwarf irregular galaxy derived from long period variable stars
• Infrared variable stars in the compact elliptical galaxy M32
• TONGS: A Treasury Of Nearby Galaxy Surveys