SDSS J150634.27+013331.6: the second compact elliptical galaxy in the NGC 5846 group

Abstract

We report the discovery of the second compact elliptical (cE) galaxy SDSS J150634.27+013331.6 in the nearby NGC 5846 group by the Virtual Observatory (VO) workflow. This object (M_B = -15.98 mag, R_e = 0.24 kpc) becomes the fifth cE where the spatially resolved kinematics and stellar populations can be obtained. We used archival HST WFPC2 images to demonstrate that its light profile has a two-component structure, and integrated photometry from GALEX, SDSS, UKIDSS and Spitzer to build the multiwavelength spectral energy distribution to constrain the star formation history (SFH). We observed this galaxy with the PMAS IFU spectrograph at the Calar-Alto 3.5-m telescope and obtained two-dimensional maps of its kinematics and stellar population properties using the full-spectral fitting technique. Its structural, dynamical and stellar population properties suggest that it had a massive progenitor heavily tidally stripped by NGC 5846.

Based on observations obtained at the German-Spanish Astronomical Center, Calar Alto, operated by the Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie Heidelberg jointly with the Spanish National Commission for Astronomy.

E-mail: Igor.Chilingarian@astro.unistra.fr (IVC); chil@sai.msu.ru (IVC)