Program: GS-2008A-Q-60
| Title: | Stars outside galaxies: a census of intergalactic HII regions in the tidal debris of mergers. |
| PI: | Claudia Mendes de Oliveira |
| Co-I(s): | Duilia de Mello, Ken C. Freeman, Ortwin Gerhard, Magda Arnaboldi, Sergio Torres-Flores |
Abstract
We propose to use GMOS to measure the velocities
of the HII regions associated with two nearby peculiar galaxies at v = 2600 km/s. The systems to be observed,
NGC 7135 and NGC 2865, contain HI tidal debris coincident with young stellar objects (identified
from GALEX data) supposedly formed due to recent collisions. We plan to employ a new, but well tested,
multi-slit imaging spectroscopy technique, successfully used with
Subaru in the blind search for planetary nebulae in Coma. The main goal
of this proposal is to make a complete census of star forming regions
in these two systems, and to determine their properties.
Finding widespread, young, star-forming regions coincident with the HI intergalactic clouds,
will be strong evidence that galaxy-galaxy interaction, with consequent expulsion of HI to the
IGM and creation of new objects is an efficient mechanism for producing
and mixing metals in the intergalactic medium.