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M.E. DeCesar, P.R. Durrell, R. Ciardullo (Penn State University), D. Hurley-Keller, J.J. Feldmeier (Case Western Reserve University)
We present the preliminary results of a wide-field photometric study of individual giant stars in the M81 galaxy group, performed with the CFH12K camera at the CFHT. We use deep V and I images of a single field between M81 and NGC 3077 to map out the two-dimensional distribution of bright red and blue stars in order to search for stars that may be associated with some of the galaxy group's tidally-produced HI streamers. We report on the discovery of 2 clumps of blue stars that are co-incident with two `knots' in the Southern HI Tidal Arm. From an analysis of their color-magnitude diagrams, both objects have formed stars as recently as 30-70 Myr ago, or long after the interactions that created the HI arm. Both objects are ~1 kpc in extent, and are considered tidal dwarf candidates. We will also discuss a search for other such features both in and away from the M81-NGC3077 HI stream.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 35#5
© 2003. The American Astronomical Soceity.