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D.C. Jackson, E.D. Skillman, J.M. Cannon (University of Minnesota), S. Cote (Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics / National Research Council of Canada)
We present ATCA neutral hydrogen mosaic imaging of the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy WLM. The major axis of the HI is aligned with the stellar component of the galaxy, and, although the overall HI distribution is relatively smooth at our resolution, there is a double peaked central core not previously resolved. One of these peaks is aligned with a region found to have high extinction that is internal to WLM while the other is in close proximity to a previously imaged HII region. This indicates the presence of a molecular gas complex associated with the recent star formation (although CO emission has not yet been detected from this galaxy). WLM's overall velocity field is consistant with rigid body rotation though there is evidence for two seperate velocity components. Recent stellar spectroscopy (Venn et al. 2003) has revealed an abundance anomaly, which, when combined with the double peaked flux distribution and peculiar velocity field, may be the result of a merger of WLM with a lower metallicity HI cloud.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.