4 MW satellites stars APOGEE abundances Virtual Observatory Resource

Authors
  1. Xu C.
  2. Qiao Y.
  3. Tang B.T.
  4. Fernandez-Trincado J.G.
  5. Yan Z.Q.
  6. Huang R.Y.,Geisler D.
  7. Published by
    CDS
Abstract

During its evolution, the Milky Way (MW) incorporated numerous dwarf galaxies, particularly low-mass systems. The surviving dwarf galaxies orbiting the MW serve as exceptional laboratories for studying the unique properties of these systems. Their metalpoor environments and shallow gravitational potentials likely drive significant differences in star formation and star cluster properties compared to those in the MW. Using high-quality near-infrared spectra from the APOGEE survey, we determined abundances of Fe, C, N, O, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, and Ce for 74 stars in four MW satellite dwarf galaxies: Fornax, Sextans, Draco, and Carina. Our analysis reveals that the distribution of {alpha] elements (e.g., [Si/Fe]) strongly correlates with galaxy luminosity (and hence mass), underscoring the critical role of galaxy mass in shaping chemical evolution. These dwarf galaxies exhibit [Al/Fe]~ -0.5, which is comparable to those of the metal-poor stars in the MW. Additionally, we identified nitrogen-rich field stars in the Fornax dwarf galaxy, which display distinct metallicities compared to its known globular clusters (GCs). If these stars originated in GCs and subsequently escaped, their presence suggests we are observing relics of destroyed GCs, offering possible evidence of cluster disruption.

Keywords
  1. galaxies
  2. giant-stars
  3. photometry
  4. spectroscopy
  5. chemical-abundances
  6. visible-astronomy
Bibliographic source Bibcode
2026A&A...708A.259X
See also HTML
https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/708/A259
IVOA Identifier IVOID
ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/708/A259

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History

2026-04-14T09:54:53Z
Resource record created
2026-04-14T08:55:24Z
Updated
2026-04-14T09:54:53Z
Created

Contact

Name
CDS support team
Postal Address
CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France
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cds-question@unistra.fr