%0 Generic %1 hsyu2017little %A Hsyu, Tiffany %A Cooke, Ryan J. %A Prochaska, J. Xavier %A Bolte, Michael %D 2017 %K galaxy metal poor very %T The Little Cub: Discovery of an Extremely Metal-Poor Star-Forming Galaxy in the Local Universe %U http://arxiv.org/abs/1708.01260 %X We report the discovery of the Little Cub, an extremely metal-poor star-forming galaxy in the local Universe, found in the constellation Ursa Major (a.k.a. the Great Bear). We first identified the Little Cub as a candidate metal-poor galaxy based on its Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric colors, combined with spectroscopy using the Kast spectrograph on the Shane 3-m telescope at Lick Observatory. In this letter, we present high-quality spectroscopic data taken with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at Keck Observatory, which confirm the extremely metal-poor nature of this galaxy. Based on the weak O III 4363 Angstrom emission line, we estimate a direct oxygen abundance of 12 + log(O/H) = 7.13 +/- 0.08, making the Little Cub one of the lowest metallicity star-forming galaxies currently known in the local Universe. The Little Cub appears to be a companion of the spiral galaxy NGC 3359 and shows evidence of gas stripping. We may therefore be witnessing the quenching of a near-pristine galaxy as it makes its first passage about a Milky Way-like galaxy.

@misc{hsyu2017little, abstract = {We report the discovery of the Little Cub, an extremely metal-poor star-forming galaxy in the local Universe, found in the constellation Ursa Major (a.k.a. the Great Bear). We first identified the Little Cub as a candidate metal-poor galaxy based on its Sloan Digital Sky Survey photometric colors, combined with spectroscopy using the Kast spectrograph on the Shane 3-m telescope at Lick Observatory. In this letter, we present high-quality spectroscopic data taken with the Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer at Keck Observatory, which confirm the extremely metal-poor nature of this galaxy. Based on the weak [O III] 4363 Angstrom emission line, we estimate a direct oxygen abundance of 12 + log(O/H) = 7.13 +/- 0.08, making the Little Cub one of the lowest metallicity star-forming galaxies currently known in the local Universe. The Little Cub appears to be a companion of the spiral galaxy NGC 3359 and shows evidence of gas stripping. We may therefore be witnessing the quenching of a near-pristine galaxy as it makes its first passage about a Milky Way-like galaxy.}, added-at = {2017-08-07T11:18:58.000+0200}, author = {Hsyu, Tiffany and Cooke, Ryan J. and Prochaska, J. Xavier and Bolte, Michael}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/21b044ef12de3b0ea7bd0cd3308e81f30/miki}, description = {[1708.01260] The Little Cub: Discovery of an Extremely Metal-Poor Star-Forming Galaxy in the Local Universe}, interhash = {23aad2ec0c0ff595ec3fbc1dbee6c087}, intrahash = {1b044ef12de3b0ea7bd0cd3308e81f30}, keywords = {galaxy metal poor very}, note = {cite arxiv:1708.01260Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters}, timestamp = {2017-08-07T11:18:58.000+0200}, title = {The Little Cub: Discovery of an Extremely Metal-Poor Star-Forming Galaxy in the Local Universe}, url = {http://arxiv.org/abs/1708.01260}, year = 2017 }