``Baade's Red Sheet'' Resolved into Stars with Hubble Space Telescope in the Blue Compact Dwarf Galaxy VII Zw 403
Hopp, Ulrich; Schulte-Ladbeck, Regina E.; Crone, Mary M.
United States, Germany
Abstract
Hubble Space Telescope Wide Field Planetary Camera 2 observations of the nearby blue compact dwarf galaxy VII Zw 403 (=UGC 6456) resolve single stars down to MI~-2.5, deep enough to identify red giants. This population has a more uniform spatial distribution than the young main-sequence stars and supergiants, forming the structure known as ``Baade's red sheet.'' We conclude that VII Zw 403 is not a primeval galaxy.
Support for this work was provided by NASA through grant number AR-06404.01-95A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555.