The Cosmic Skidmark: witnessing galaxy transformation at z = 0.19

• Published in: Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union
• Main Author: Murphy, David N. A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge University Press (CUP) 2014
• Subjects: Astronomy and Astrophysics; Space and Planetary Science; Bower; Stripe; Orca
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s1743921314009752; https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S1743921314009752

Abstract We present an early-look analysis of the “Cosmic Skidmark”. Discovered following visual inspection of the Geach, Murphy & Bower (2011) SDSS Stripe 82 cluster catalogue generated by ORCA (an automated cluster algorithm searching for red-sequences; Murphy, Geach & Bower 2012), this z = 0.19 1.4L ⋆ galaxy appears to have been caught in the rare act of transformation while accreting onto an estimated 10 13 –10 14 h −1 M ⊙ -mass galaxy group. SDSS spectroscopy reveals clear signatures of star formation whilst deep optical imaging reveals a pronounced 50 kpc cometary tail. Pending completion of our ALMA Cycle 2 and IFU observations, we show here preliminary analysis of this target.