An ultra diffuse galaxy in the NGC 5846 group from the VEGAS survey

¹ Centre for Astrophysics & Supercomputing, Swinburne University, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia
e-mail: dforbes@swin.edu.au
² INAF-Astronomical Observatory of Capodimonte, Salita Moiariello 16, 80131 Naples, Italy
³ INAF Astronomical Observatory of Abruzzo, Via Maggini snc, 64100 Teramo, Italy
⁴ School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-sen University Zhuhai Campus, 2 Daxue Road, Tangjia, Zhuhai, Guangdong 519082, PR China

Received: 19 March 2019
Accepted: 10 May 2019

Abstract

Context. Many ultra diffuse galaxies (UDGs) have now been identified in clusters of galaxies. However, the number of nearby UDGs suitable for detailed follow-up remain rare.

Aims. Our aim is to begin to identify UDGs in the environments of nearby bright early-type galaxies from the VEGAS survey.

Methods. Here we use a deep g band image of the NGC 5846 group, taken as part of the VEGAS survey, to search for UDGs.

Results. We found one object with properties of a UDG if it associated with the NGC 5846 group, which seems likely. The galaxy, we name NGC 5846_UDG1, has an absolute magnitude of M_g = −14.2, corresponding to a stellar mass of ∼10⁸M_⊙. It also reveals a system of compact sources which are likely globular clusters. Based on the number of globular clusters detected we estimate a halo mass that is greater than 8 × 10¹⁰M_⊙ for UDG1.