Investigation of the New Local Group Galaxy VV 124
  We present the results of our stellar photometry and spectroscopy for the new
Local Group galaxy VV 124 (UGC 4879) obtained with the 6-m BTA telescope. The
presence of a few bright supergiants in the galaxy indicates that the current
star formation process is weak. The apparent distribution of stars with
different ages in VV 124 does not differ from the analogous distributions of
stars in irregular galaxies, but the ratio of the numbers of young and old
stars indicates that VV 124 belongs to the rare Irr/Sph type of galaxies. The
old stars (red giants) form the most extended structure, a thick disk with an
exponential decrease in the star number density to the edge. Definitely, the
young population unresolvable in images makes a great contribution to the
background emission from the central galactic regions. The presence of young
stars is also confirmed by the [O III] emission line visible in the spectra
that belongs to extensive diffuse galactic regions. The mean radial velocity of
several components (two bright supergiants, the unresolvable stellar
population, and the diffuse gas) is v_h = -70+/-15 km/s and the velocity with
which VV 124 falls into the Local Group is v_LG = -12+/-15 km/s. We confirm the
distance to the galaxy D = 1.1+/-0.1 Mpc and the metallicity of red giants
([Fe/H] = -1.37) found by Kopylov et al. (2008).VV 124 is located on the
periphery of the Local Group approximately at the same distance from M 31 and
our Galaxy and is isolated from other galaxies. The galaxy LeoA nearest to it
is 0.5 Mpc away.
