VEGAS: a VST Early-type GAlaxy Survey. IV. NGC 1533, IC 2038 and IC
  2039: an interacting triplet in the Dorado group
  This paper focuses on NGC 1533 and the pair IC 2038 and IC 2039 in Dorado a
nearby, clumpy, still un-virialized group. We obtained their surface photometry
from deep OmegaCAM@ESO-VST images in g and r bands. For NGC 1533, we map the
surface brightness down to $\mu_g \simeq 30.11$ mag/arcsec$^{2}$ and $\mu_r
\simeq 28.87$ mag/arcsec$^{2}$ and out to about $4R_e$. At such faint levels
the structure of NGC 1533 appear amazingly disturbed with clear structural
asymmetry between inner and outer isophotes in the North-East direction. We
detect new spiral arm-like tails in the outskirts, which might likely be the
signature of a past interaction/merging event. Similarly, IC 2038 and IC 2039
show tails and distortions indicative of their ongoing interaction. Taking
advantages of deep images, we are able to detect the optical counterpart to the
HI gas. The analysis of the new deep data suggests that NGC 1533 had a complex
history made of several interactions with low-mass satellites that generated
the star-forming spiral-like structure in the inner regions and are shaping the
stellar envelope. In addition, the VST observations show that also the two less
luminous galaxies, IC 2038 and IC 2039, are probably interacting each-other
and, in the past, IC 2038 could have also interacted with NGC 1533, which
stripped away gas and stars from its outskirts. The new picture emerging from
this study is of an interacting triplet, where the brightest galaxy NGC 1533
has ongoing mass assembly in the outskirts.
