The Leo Elliptical NGC 3379: A Metal-Poor Halo Emerges**Based on observations made with the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555. These observations are associated with program 9811. Support for this work was provided in part by NASA through grant number HST-GO-09811.01-A from the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under NASA contract NAS 5-26555.

Abstract

We have used the ACS camera on HST to obtain (V, I) photometry for 5300 red giant stars in the halo of the dominant Leo group member NGC 3379, a galaxy usually regarded as a classic normal giant elliptical. We use this data to derive the metallicity distribution function (MDF) for its outer-halo field stars at a location centered 33 kpc from the galaxy center. In at least two ways the MDF is distinctly unlike all the other E galaxies for which …