A NEW GALAXY IN THE LOCAL GROUP - THE ANTLIA DWARF GALAXY

We report the discovery of a new member of the Local Group in the cons tellation of Antlia. Optically the system appears to be a typical dwar f spheroidal galaxy of type dE3.5 with no apparent young blue stars or unusual features. A color-magnitude diagram in I, V-I shows the tip o f the red giant branch, giving a distance modulus of 25.3+/-0.2 (1.15 Ripe +/-0.1) and a metallicity of -1.6+/-0.3. Although Antlia is in a relatively isolated part of the Local Group it is only 1.2 degrees awa y on the sky from the Local Group dwarf NGC 3109 and may be an associa ted system. (C) 1997 American Astronomical Society.