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arXiv · 1907.12417

Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies in the M101 group and behind it

I. D. Karachentsev·L. N. Makarova
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Abstract

We use images from the Hubble Space Telescope to determine the distances to a dozen objects with low surface brightness recently observed around the bright nearby spiral M101. Only two dwarf galaxies, M101-DwA and M101-Dw9, turn out to be actual satellites of M101 at distances of about 7 Mpc. The other objects are probably members of a distant group around the S0-galaxies NGC 5485/5473. Based on the radial velocities and projected separations of the 9 satellites, we obtain an estimate of $(8.5\pm3.0)\times 10^{11} M_{\odot}$ for the total mass of M101, which is consistent with a ratio $16\pm6$ for the total mass to the stellar mass of the galaxy.

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I. D. Karachentsev, L. N. Makarova. 2019-07-29. Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies in the M101 group and behind it. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10511-019-09582-7

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