Rubin Undergraduate Research - Student Highlight
Student: Virginia Johnson
Advisor: Aaron Romanowsky
Institution: University of California, Santa Cruz
Major: Astrophysics
Research Project
A Long Tidal Feature Extending from a Low-Redshift Galaxy Revealed in Rubin Data Preview One Imaging
About the Research
Using the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Data Preview 1 (DP1), we present the detection and photometric analysis of a stellar stream extending along the minor axis of a massive disk-galaxy, LEDA 751050, at a redshift of z = 0.1 in the Extended Chandra Deep Field-South (ECDFS). This feature appears to be an analog of the M31 Giant Stellar Stream, spanning around 130 kpc by 15 kpc, with an estimated stellar mass of M⋆ = 6 × 108M⊙, and a mean g-band surface brightness (SB) of µg = 28.6 mag arcsec−2. This discovery demonstrates Rubin’s ability to reveal low-SB substructures and foreshadows the future capabilities when the full Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) data set is actualized.
Congratulations to Virginia on this impressive contribution!