Rubin J122659.4+090236: An Extremely Low Surface Brightness Galaxy Candidate Discovered in the Rubin LSST Early Data Preview 2

@misc{mitra2026rubin,
  title = {{Rubin J122659.4+090236: An Extremely Low Surface Brightness Galaxy Candidate Discovered in the Rubin LSST Early Data Preview 2}},
  author = {Dipanjan Mitra and Kanak Saha and Sugata Kaviraj and Alister W. Graham and Sandro Tacchella and Ricardo Demarco and Dieu D. Nguyen and Elham Saremi and hernandez toledo and hector. and Jose Benavides and Natanael M. Cardoso and Samuel Boissier and Dan S. Taranu and Bililign Dullo and Patricia B. Tissera and Matias Blana and Hao Fu and Priyanka Chakraborty and Kevin A. Pimbblet and Tayyaba Zafar and Anirban Dutta and Aidan P Cotter and Darko Donevski and Katarzyna Malek and Rossella Ragusa and Agnieszka Pollo and Unnikrishnan Sureshkumar and Aritra Ghosh and Antonio Vanzanella and Hareesh Thuruthipilly},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.04967},
  eprint = {2609.04967},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04967},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Rubin J122659.4+090236: An Extremely Low Surface Brightness Galaxy Candidate Discovered in the Rubin LSST Early Data Preview 2
AU  - Dipanjan Mitra
AU  - Kanak Saha
AU  - Sugata Kaviraj
AU  - Alister W. Graham
AU  - Sandro Tacchella
AU  - Ricardo Demarco
AU  - Dieu D. Nguyen
AU  - Elham Saremi
AU  - hernandez toledo
AU  - hector.
AU  - Jose Benavides
AU  - Natanael M. Cardoso
AU  - Samuel Boissier
AU  - Dan S. Taranu
AU  - Bililign Dullo
AU  - Patricia B. Tissera
AU  - Matias Blana
AU  - Hao Fu
AU  - Priyanka Chakraborty
AU  - Kevin A. Pimbblet
AU  - Tayyaba Zafar
AU  - Anirban Dutta
AU  - Aidan P Cotter
AU  - Darko Donevski
AU  - Katarzyna Malek
AU  - Rossella Ragusa
AU  - Agnieszka Pollo
AU  - Unnikrishnan Sureshkumar
AU  - Aritra Ghosh
AU  - Antonio Vanzanella
AU  - Hareesh Thuruthipilly
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/21
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.04967
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.04967
AB  - We report the serendipitous discovery of an exceptionally low surface brightness galaxy (LSBG) candidate, Rubin J122659.4+090236, in Rubin Observatory imaging of the interacting NGC 4410 system, identified in the Cosmic Treasure Chest public release. 2D Sérsic modelling of the Rubin g, r, and i images reveals a nearly round system with a shallow profile (n ~ 0.4), an effective radius of R_e ~ 6'', and central surface brightnesses of μ_0,g=27.52±0.04, μ_0,r=27.62±0.07, and μ_0,i=27.04±0.08 mag arcsec^−2. EAZY photo-z fitting favours an intermediate-z solution at z~0.3, while a low-redshift solution at z~0.028, consistent with the NGC 4410 system, is also permitted by a restricted EAZY fit over 0<z<0.1 without imposing a redshift prior. These alternatives imply substantially different physical interpretations, ranging from a diffuse dwarf-like system to an exceptionally extended background LSBG. This discovery demonstrates Rubin's sensitivity to extremely diffuse galaxies and highlights the potential of the LSST survey to uncover large samples of such elusive systems across wide areas, enabling systematic studies of the LSBG population and its role in galaxy evolution.
ER  -