We present spectra of six metal-poor stars in two of the ultra-faint dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way (MW), Ursa Major II, and Coma Berenices obtained with the Keck/High Resolution Echelle Spectrometer (HIRES). These observations include the first high-resolution spectroscopic observations of extremely metal-poor ([Fe/H]<-3.0) stars not belonging to the MW halo field star population. We obtain abundance measurements and upper limits for 26 elements between carbon and europium. The entire sample of stars spans a range of -3.2<[Fe/H]~-3.0. Not only are our results broadly consistent with a galaxy formation model that predicts that massive dwarf galaxies are the source of the metal-rich component ([Fe/H]>-2.5) of the MW halo, but they also suggest that the faintest known dwarfs may be the primary contributors to the metal-poor end of the MW halo metallicity distribution.

Cone search capability for table J/ApJ/708/560/stars (Photometry and other stellar parameters (table 1 and 5 of the paper))