The dust morphology of the elliptical Galaxy M86 with SPIRE

TL;DR

This study uses Herschel-SPIRE observations to analyze the distribution and origin of cold dust in the elliptical galaxy M86, revealing multiple dust components linked to tidal interactions with a nearby spiral galaxy.

Contribution

First detailed Herschel-SPIRE imaging of M86's dust morphology, identifying multiple dust components and their likely tidal origin.

Findings

Approximately 10^6 solar masses of dust detected.

Dust is associated with stripped material from NGC4438.

Gas-to-dust ratio ranges from ~20 to 80.

Abstract

We present Herschel-SPIRE observations at 250-500um of the giant elliptical galaxy M86 and examine the distribution of the resolved cold dust emission and its relation with other galactic tracers. The SPIRE images reveal three dust components: emission from the central region; a dust lane extending north-south; and a bright emission feature 10kpc to the south-east. We estimate that approximately 10^6 solar masses of dust is spatially coincident with atomic and ionized hydrogen, originating from stripped material from the nearby spiral NGC4438 due to recent tidal interactions with M86. The gas-to-dust ratio of the cold gas component ranges from ~20-80. We discuss the different heating mechanisms for the dust features.