AAS 207th Meeting, 8-12 January 2006
Session 135 A New Look at Andromeda
Poster, Wednesday, 9:20am-6:30pm, January 11, 2006, Exhibit Hall

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[135.05] The Violent History of Andromeda

T.M. Brown, E. Smith (STScI), P. Guhathakurta (UCO/Lick), R.M. Rich (UCLA), H.C. Ferguson (STScI), A. Renzini (Osservatorio Astronomico), A.V. Sweigart, R.A. Kimble (NASA/GSFC)

Using the Advanced Camera for Surveys on the Hubble Space Telescope, Andromeda has now been imaged well below the main sequence turnoff in three structures: the spheroid, the outer disk, and the tidal stream. These data allow a complete reconstruction of the star formation histories in these structures. Although the disk is significantly different from the other two fields, the stream and spheroid look remarkably similar. Each of the fields has an extended star formation history that was largely finished approximately 5 Gyr ago. At the same time, other observing programs are providing important constraints on the spatial morphologies and kinematics of these structures. Taken together, the extant data suggest a violent history in Andromeda, with significant disruption of the disk population into the outskirts of the galaxy.


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