Deep neutral hydrogen observations of Leo T with the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope

Understand

Leo T is the lowest mass gas-rich galaxy currently known and studies of its gas content help us understand how such marginal galaxies survive and form stars.

• We present deep neutral hydrogen (HI) observations from the Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope in order to understand its HI distribution and potential for star formation.
• We find a larger HI line flux than the previously accepted value, resulting in a 50% larger HI mass of 4.1 x 10^5 Msun.
• The additional HI flux is from low surface brightness emission that was previously missed; with careful masking this emission can be recovered even in shallower data.