HUDF 1619 - a candidate polar-ring galaxy in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field

Abstract

A good candidate for a polar-ring galaxy has been detected in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF). The galaxy HUDF 1619 (V~25 mag, z~1) is the most distant object of this type known to date. A large-scale structure crosses the highly warped disk of the main galaxy seen almost edge-on at an angle of about 70 grad. The luminosity of this structure (the possible polar ring) reaches \~1/3 of the luminosity of the central galaxy. A strong absorption lane is seen in the region where this structure is projected onto the disk of the central object. There are two galaxies of comparable luminosity adjacent to HUDF 1619 (in projection). One of them may be the donor galaxy in the interaction which gave rise to the ring structure.