Deep imaging of the shell elliptical galaxy NGC3923 with MegaCam

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Authors

BILEK Michal CUILLANDRE JC. GWYN S. EBROVA Ivana BARTOŠKOVÁ Kateřina JUNGWIERT Bruno JÍLKOVÁ Lucie

Year of publication 2016
Type Article in Periodical
Magazine / Source ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
MU Faculty or unit

Faculty of Science

Citation
Doi http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201526608
Field Theoretical physics
Keywords galaxies: peculiar; galaxies: elliptical and lenticular; galaxies: individual: NGC 3923; galaxies: photometry; techniques: image processing; gravitation
Description Context. The elliptical galaxy NGC3923 is known to be surrounded by a number of stellar shells, probable remnants of an accreted galaxy. Despite its uniqueness, the deepest images of its outskirts come from the 1980s. On the basis of the modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND), it has recently been predicted that a new shell lies in this region. Aims. We obtain the deepest image ever of the galaxy, map the tidal features in it, and search for the predicted shell. Methods. The image of the galaxy was taken by the MegaCam camera at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope in the g'-band. It reached the surface-brightness limit of 29 mag arcsec(-2). In addition, we reanalyzed an archival HST image of the galaxy. Results. We detected up to 42 shells in NGC3923. This is by far the highest number among all shell galaxies. We present the description of the shells and other tidal features in the galaxy. A probable progenitor of some of these features was discovered. The shell system likely originates from two or more progenitors. The predicted shell was not detected, but the new image revealed that the prediction was based on incorrect assumptions and poor data.
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