New extended and faint tidal tail discovered
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By analyzing the data from the Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS), astronomers have discovered a new tidal tail likely associated with the galaxy NGC 3785. The newly detected tidal tail is extremely extended and faint. The finding was reported in a research paper published October 24 on the preprint server arXiv.
Tidal tails are thin, elongated regions of stars and interstellar gas extending into space. They are formed as a result of gravitational interactions between galaxies and star clusters. The observations show that some interacting objects have two distinct tails, while other systems have only one tail.
Now, a team of astronomers led by Chandan Watts of the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in Bengaluru, India, reports the detection of a new tidal tail. The new tail was serendipitously identified in DECaLS images, in an isolated environment associated with NGC 3785—a lenticular galaxy in the constellation Leo.
