Eridanus iv: An ultra-faint dwarf galaxy candidate discovered in the decam local volume exploration survey

Abstract

We present the discovery of a candidate ultra-faint Milky-Way satellite, Eridanus IV (DELVE J0505-0931), detected in photometric data from the DECam Local Volume Exploration survey (DELVE). Eridanus IV is a faint (MV = - 4.7 ± 0.2), extended ( = - r 75+ pc 1 2 13 16 ), and elliptical (ò = 0.54 ± 0.1) system at a heliocentric distance of - 76.7+ kpc 6.1 4.0 , with a stellar population that is well described by an old, metal-poor isochrone (age of τ ∼ 13.0 Gyr and metallicity of [Fe/H] - 2.1 dex). These properties are consistent with the known population of ultra-faint Milky-Way satellite galaxies. Eridanus IV is also prominently detected using proper-motion measurements from Gaia Early Data Release 3, with a systemic proper motion of (ma cos d, md) = (+0.25 0.06, -0.10 0.05) mas yr-1 measured from its horizontal branch and red-giant-branch member stars. We find that the spatial distribution of likely member stars hints at the possibility that the system is undergoing tidal disruption. © 2021 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.