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Session 38 - Dwarf Galaxies.
Display session, Tuesday, January 14
Metropolitan Ballroom,

[38.07] The Environments of Dwarf Irregular Galaxies

S. Schrecker (SDSU), J. Eder (NAIC), R. Pildis (Northwestern U.), J. Schombert (U. Oregon)

The formation of dwarf irregular galaxies may depend on the environmental density. We have compiled a large uniform sample of dwarf irregular galaxies with measured radial velocities. We searched the neighborhood of each dwarf for giant galaxies to determine whether they were possible catalysts to the formation of the dwarf. If the giant neighbors were notably absent, then the dwarfs formed without the interactions of the giant galaxies.

We investigated the environments of the dwarf irregulars using the Digital Sky Survey and the Palomar Sky Survey, and determined the range of possible past interaction based on distances of observed giant-dwarf neighbors in the local group. We then got a complete listing of the galaxies within that range of possible interaction from NED (NASA Extragalactic Database), and extracted all galaxies that were found to be within interaction distance with the dwarf. These galaxies were the possible parent galaxies of the dwarf.


The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: sven@mintaka.sdsu.edu

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