Discovery in IC10 of the farthest known symbiotic star

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of the first symbiotic star in the galaxy IC10, located approximately 750 kpc away, expanding the known population of such stars in external galaxies.

Contribution

It presents the first identification of a symbiotic star in IC10, demonstrating the feasibility of detecting such objects in distant galaxies.

Findings

Discovered a symbiotic star in IC10 at ~750 kpc.

Spectral analysis matches that of known Galactic symbiotic stars.

Provides data on the properties and spectrum of the newly found star.

Abstract

We report the discovery of the first known symbiotic star in IC10, a starburst galaxy belonging to the Local Group, at a distance of ~750kpc. The symbiotic star was identified during a survey of emission-line objects. It shines at V = 24.62+-0.04, V - R_C = 2.77+-0.05 and R_C - I_C = 2.39+-0.02 and suffers from E(B-V) = 0.85+-0.05 reddening. The spectrum of the cool component well matches that of solar neighborhood M8III giants. The observed emission lines belong to Balmer series, [SII], [NII] and [OIII]. They suggest a low electronic density, negligible optical depth effects and 35,000K < T_eff < 90,000K for the ionizing source. The spectrum of the new symbiotic star in IC10 is an almost perfect copy of that of Hen 2-147, a well known Galactic symbiotic star and Mira.