WFC3 study on the early-type galaxy NGC4150

Recent surveys have shown that many early-type galaxies have signatures of ongoing or recent star formation (RSF). These RSF galaxies show blue integrated UV-optical colours that set them aside in the NUV integrated colour-magnitude relation. Among them, NGC 4150 has been observed using the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the Hubble Space Telescope to inspect the galaxy with higher spatial resolution. In the WFC3 data, the galaxy reveals ubiquitous near-UV emission and remarkable dusty substructure. Our analysis shows this galaxy to lie in the near-UV green valley, and its pixel-by-pixel photometry exhibits a narrow range of UV-optical colours that are similar to those of nearby E+A (post-starburst) galaxies, and lie between those of M83 (an actively star-forming spiral) and the local quiescent early-type galaxy population. This work reaffirms our hypothesis that minor mergers play a significant role in the evolution of early-type galaxies at late epochs.