Discovery of an Ultra Faint Dwarf Galaxy in the Virgo Core

Ultra faint dwarf galaxies (UFDs) are larger but fainter than globular clusters, being the faintest galaxies in the universe. They have been found only in the Local Group. We report the discovery of an UFD in the intracluster field of the Virgo cluster (Virgo UFD1). It is located near the core of Virgo cluster, and far from any massive galaxies. The color magnitude diagram of resolved stars in Virgo UFD1 shows narrow, metal poor red giant branch (RGB), which is very similar to the UFDs in the Local Group. by comparing RGB in this galaxy with 12 Gyr stellar isochrones, we estimate its distance, $d=16.4{\pm}0.4$ Mpc and mean metallicity, $[Fe/H]=-2.4{\pm}0.4$. We derive its integrated photometric properties and structural parameters : V-band absolute magnitude of $MV=-6.3{\pm}0.2$, effective radius of $84{\pm}7pc$, and central surface brightness of ${\mu}V,0=26.49{\pm}0.09$ mag arcsec-2. These properties are similar to these of Local Group UFDs. Virgo UFD1 is the first UFD discovered beyond the Local Group. These results indicate that it may be a fossil remnant of the first galaxies.