News from the "Dentist's Chair": Observations of AM1353-272 with the VIMOS IFU

Abstract

The galaxy pair AM 1353-272 nicknamed "The Dentist's Chair" shows two ∼30 kpc long tidal tails. Previous observations using multi-slit masks showed that they host up to seven tidal dwarf galaxies. The kinematics of these tidal dwarfs appeared to be decoupled from the surrounding tidal material. New observations of the tip of the southern tidal tail with the VIMOS integral field unit confirm the results for two of these genuine tidal dwarfs but raise doubts whether the velocity gradient attributed to the outermost tidal dwarf candidate is real. We also discuss possible effects to explain the observational difference concerning the strongest velocity gradient seen in the slit data, which is undetected in the new integral field data, but arrive at no firm conclusion. Additionally, low-resolution data covering most of the two interacting partners show that the strongest line emitting regions of this system are the central parts. © 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.