| Issue |
A&A
Volume 532, August 2011
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Article Number | L6 | |
| Number of page(s) | 8 | |
| Section | Letters | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201117292 | |
| Published online | 21 July 2011 | |
Letter to the Editor
Discovery of the X-ray selected galaxy cluster XMMU J0338.8+0021 at z = 1.49
Indications of a young system with a brightest galaxy in formation⋆,⋆⋆
1
Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik (MPE), Giessenbachstrasse 1, 85748 Garching, Germany
e-mail: alessandro.nastasi@mpe.mpg.de
2
Astrophysikalisches Institut Potsdam (AIP), An der Sternwarte 16, 14482 Potsdam, Germany
3
European Southern Observatory (ESO), Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
4
Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22, Chile
5
European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC)/ESA, Madrid, Spain
Received: 19 May 2011
Accepted: 22 June 2011
We report the discovery of a galaxy cluster at z = 1.490 originally selected as an extended X-ray source in the XMM-Newton Distant Cluster Project. Further observations carried out with the VLT-FORS2 spectrograph allowed the spectroscopic confirmation of seven secure cluster members, providing a median system redshift of z = 1.490 ± 0.009. The color-magnitude diagram of XMMU J0338.8+0021 reveals the presence of a well-populated red sequence with z − H ≈ 3, albeit with an apparent significant scatter in color. Since we do not detect indications of any strong star formation activity in these objects, the color spread could represent the different stellar ages of the member galaxies. In addition, we found the brightest cluster galaxy in a very active dynamical state, with an interacting, merging companion located at a physical projected distance of d ≈ 20 kpc. From the X-ray luminosity, we estimate a cluster mass of M200 ~ 1.2 × 1014 M⊙. The data appear to be consistent with a scenario in which XMMU J0338.8+0021 is a young system, possibly caught in a moment of active ongoing mass assembly.
Key words: galaxies: clusters: general / X-rays: general
Based on observations under programme ID 084.A-0844 collected at the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere, Chile, and observations collected at the Centro Astronómico Hispano Alemán at Calar Alto, operated jointly by the Max-Planck Institut für Astronomie and the Instituto de Astrofísica de Andalucía (CSIC).
Tables 1, 2 and Figs. 3–6 are available in electronic form at http://www.aanda.org
© ESO, 2011
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