LPVs as Possible Distance Indicators in NGC147 and NGC185

Abstract

NGC147 and NGC185 are both dwarf galaxies and companions of the M31 Galaxy. These satellites of Andromeda show similar properties in their color magnitude diagram but also striking differences concerning their stellar content of intermediate age stars as well as their amount of gas and dust. This and the fact that their small apparent separation on the sky of approximately one degree make them very interesting for comparative studies. Photometric monitoring of stars in the i-band of the two dwarf galaxies NGC147 and NGC185 covering ≈ 2.5 years resulted in the discovery of a large number of Long Period Variables (LPVs). A total of 323 LPVs in NGC 185 and 147 LPVs in NGC147 were available for further analysis. Additional single-epoch K s -band photometry was obtained in order to compare the resulting period luminosity diagrams with those of other systems like, e.g., the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Making use of narrow-band photometry a significant fraction of the detected LPVs could be identified as carbon-rich. To establish a universal relation between period and luminosity for LPVs, such variables need to be studied in different galaxies. Therefore, the resulting K s − logP relations (PLRs) were compared with those from the LMC. The PLRs of NGC147 are in good agreement with the LMC relations. In contrast, a systematic shift of the sequence of fundamental mode pulsators (labeled as C) and the sequence for first overtone pulsators (C ′ ) suggests a revised distance estimate for NGC185.