A co-rotating gas and satellite structure around the interacting galaxy pair NGC 4490/85

Abstract

ABSTRACT The interacting binary system NGC 4490/85 = Arp 269 is intermediate in mass between the Milky Way/Large Magellanic Cloud and the Large/Small Magellanic Cloud binary systems. It is a system of 14 known galaxies. We estimate the total Newtonian gravitating mass of the NGC 4490/85 group to be $M_\mathrm{ T} = (1.37\pm 0.43) \times 10^{12} \, \mathrm{M}_{\odot }$ using radial velocities and projected separations of its 13 candidate members. The system of dwarf satellites in the group demonstrates signs of coherent rotation in the same direction as that of the extended H i-shell surrounding the central interacting galaxy pair. The origin of this phase-space correlated population of star-forming late-type satellite galaxies raises questions in view of the planes-of-satellites observed around more massive galaxy pairs that are, however, made up of old early-type dwarf galaxies. We also report the detection of a candidate stellar Plume near the binary. This elongated structure of low surface brightness is a likely optical counterpart to the H i-tail north of NGC 4490/85, recently discovered by the Five-Hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio telescope.