The Origin of the 300 km s-1 Stream near Segue 1

Bovy, Jo; Beers, Timothy C.; Placco, Vinicius M.; Simon, Joshua D.; Sobeck, Jennifer; Fernández-Trincado, J. G.; García-Hernández, D. A.; Allende Prieto, Carlos; Shetrone, Matthew; Zamora, Olga; Harding, Paul; Nitschelm, Christian; Roman-Lopes, Alexandre; Fu, Sal Wanying; Ivans, Inese; Lane, Richard

United States, Canada, Chile, France, Spain

Abstract

We present a search for new members of the 300 km s-1 stream (300S) near the dwarf galaxy Segue 1 using wide-field survey data. We identify 11 previously unknown bright stream members in the APOGEE-2 and SEGUE-1 and 2 spectroscopic surveys. Based on the spatial distribution of the high-velocity stars, we confirm for the first time that this kinematic structure is associated with a 24°-long stream seen in SDSS and Pan-STARRS imaging data. The 300S stars display a metallicity range of -2.17 < [Fe/H] < -1.24, with an intrinsic dispersion of {0.21}-0.09+0.12 dex. They also have chemical abundance patterns similar to those of Local Group dwarf galaxies, as well as that of the Milky Way halo. Using the open-source code galpy to model the orbit of the stream, we find that the progenitor of the stream passed perigalacticon about 70 Myr ago, with a closest approach to the Galactic center of about 4.1 kpc. Using Pan-STARRS DR1 data, we obtain an integrated stream luminosity of 4 × 103 L . We conclude that the progenitor of the stream was a dwarf galaxy that is probably similar to the satellites that were accreted to build the present-day Milky Way halo.

2018 The Astrophysical Journal
Gaia 14