LOS velocities & [Fe/H] of Pal 5 tidal stream

The observed fields are located to cover an angular extent of ~17{deg} along the stream, providing an opportunity to investigate a trend in line-of-sight velocities (V_los_) along the stream, which is essential to constrain its orbit and underlying gravitational potential of the MW's dark matter halo.

A spectral fitting technique is applied to the observed spectra to obtain stellar parameters and metallicities ([Fe/H]) of the target stars. The 19 stars most likely belonging to the central Pal 5 cluster have a mean V_los_ of -58.1+/-0.7km/s and metallicity [Fe/H]=-1.35+/-0.06dex, both of which are in good agreement with those derived in previous high-resolution spectroscopic studies. Assuming that the stream stars have the same [Fe/H] as the progenitor cluster, the derived [Fe/H] and V_los_ values are used to estimate the possible V_los_ range of the member stars at each location along the stream.