Andromeda IX: A New Dwarf Spheroidal Satellite of M31 Daniel B. Zucker1,10, Alexei Y. Kniazev1, Eric F. Bell1, David Mart´inez-Delgado1, Eva K. Grebel1,2, Hans-Walter Rix1, Constance M. Rockosi3, Jon A. Holtzman4, Rene A. M. Walterbos4, James Annis5, Donald G. York6, Zeljkoˇ Ivezi´c7, J. Brinkmann8, Howard Brewington8, Michael Harvanek8, Greg Hennessy9, S. J. Kleinman8, Jurek Krzesinski8, Dan Long8, Peter R. Newman8, Atsuko Nitta8, Stephanie A. Snedden8 ABSTRACT We report the discovery of a new dwarf spheroidal satellite of M31, An- dromeda IX, based on resolved stellar photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). Using both SDSS and public archival data we have estimated its distance and other physical properties, and compared these to the properties of a previously known dwarf spheroidal companion, Andromeda V, also observed by SDSS. Andromeda IX is the lowest surface brightness galaxy found to date −2 (µV,0 ∼ 26.8 mag arcsec ), and at the distance we estimate from the position of the tip of Andromeda IX’s red giant branch, (m − M)0 ∼ 24.5 (805 kpc), Andromeda IX would also be the faintest galaxy known (MV ∼ −8.3). Subject headings: galaxies: dwarf — galaxies: individual (Andromeda V) — galaxies: individual (Andromeda IX) — galaxies: evolution — Local Group 1Max-Planck-Institut f¨ur Astronomie, K¨onigstuhl 17, D-69117 Heidelberg, Germany;
[email protected] 2Astronomisches Institut, Universit¨at Basel, Venusstrasse 7,CH-4102 Binningen, Switzerland arXiv:astro-ph/0404268v2 16 Aug 2004 3Astronomy Department, University of Washington, Box 351580, Seattle WA 98195-1580 4Department of Astronomy, New Mexico State University, 1320 Frenger Mall, Las Cruces NM 88003-8001 5Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, P.O.