Stellar Substructures around the Hercules Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy

TL;DR

This study reveals extensive stellar substructures around the Hercules dwarf galaxy, indicating it is strongly tidally disrupted with significant debris extending far from its core.

Contribution

First detailed deep photometric analysis of Hercules revealing multiple stellar substructures and tidal debris, demonstrating its ongoing tidal disruption.

Findings

Identification of nine extended stellar substructures

Detection of tidal debris outside the main galaxy

Alignment of substructures with the galaxy's orbital path

Abstract

We present deep $g,i$-band DECam stellar photometry of the Hercules Milky Way satellite galaxy, and its surrounding field, out to a radial distance of 5.4 times the tidal radius. We have identified nine extended stellar substructures associated with the dwarf; preferentially distributed along the major axis of the galaxy. Two significant over-densities lie outside the 95\% confidence band for the likely orbital path of the galaxy and appear to be free-floating tidal debris. We estimate the luminosity of the new stellar substructures, and find that approximately the same amount of stellar flux is lying in these extended structures as inside the main body of Hercules. We also analyse the distribution of candidate blue-horizontal-branch stars and find agreement with the alignment of the substructures at a confidence level greater than 98\%. Our analysis provides a quantitative demonstration that Hercules is a strongly tidally disrupted system, with noticeable stellar features at least 1.9 kpc away from the galaxy.