(ORDO NEWS) — Japanese astronomers report the discovery of a new polar ring galaxy. It was discovered by analyzing data obtained using the Subaru telescope as part of the Hyper Suprime-Cam Subaru program (HSC-SSP). This discovery was detailed in an article published August 26 on arXiv.org.
Polar ring galaxies (PRGs) are systems consisting of an S0 galaxy and a polar ring that have not merged with each other for billions of years.
Rings composed of gas and stars are in a perpendicular orientation relative to the major axis of the central host galaxy.
Although more than 400 PRG candidates have been discovered to date, only dozens of them have been confirmed in subsequent spectroscopic observations.
A team of astronomers from the Open University of Japan conducted a detailed study of a sample of known PRGs using HSC-SSP data. As a result, they found a new candidate identified as SDSS J095351.58+012036.1.
According to the study, J0953 has a stellar mass of about 38.5 billion solar masses and a star formation rate of about 2.66 solar masses per year.
The stellar masses of the host galaxy and the polar structure are 26.18 and 4.23 billion solar masses, respectively.
The radius of the parent galaxy is 0.89 arc seconds, and the radius of the polar structure is 2.12 arc seconds.
Astronomers noted that J0953’s ring structure appears to be nearly perpendicular to the disk of its host galaxy.
Summing up, the authors of the study stressed that more spectroscopic observations of J0953 are needed in order to definitively confirm its character as an HPA.
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