EIGHT HUNDRED NEW CANDIDATES FOR GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN NGC 5128 (Centaurus A)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON (Canada)
- Departamento de Ciencias Fisicas, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Universidad Andres Bello, Santiago (Chile)
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, ON L8S 4M1 (Canada)
- Mount Stromlo Observatory, The Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Australian National University, Weston Creek, ACT 2611 (Australia)
- Departamento de Astronomia, Universidad de Concepcion (Chile)
We have used new wide-field imaging with the Magellan IMACS camera to search for globular cluster (GC) candidates around NGC 5128, the nearest giant E galaxy. The imaging data are in the B and R broadband filters and cover a 1.55 deg{sup 2} field centered on the galaxy, corresponding to an area about 90 Multiplication-Sign 90 kpc{sup 2} at the distance of NGC 5128. All the fields were taken under exceptionally high-quality seeing conditions (FWHM = 0.''4-0.''5 in R). Using this material we are able, for the first time in the literature, to construct a homogeneous list of GC candidates covering a wide span of the NGC 5128 halo and unusually free of field contaminants (foreground stars and faint background galaxies). Selecting the measured objects by color, magnitude, ellipticity, and profile size gives us a final catalog of 833 new high-quality GC candidates brighter than R = 21 (0.8 mag fainter than the standard GC luminosity function turnover point). The measured positions have better than 0.''2 precision in both coordinates. This list can be used as the basis for spectroscopic follow-up, leading to a more comprehensive kinematic and dynamic study of the halo.
- OSTI ID:
- 22034673
- Journal Information:
- Astronomical Journal (New York, N.Y. Online), Vol. 143, Issue 4; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1538-3881
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
THE KINEMATICS OF THE GLOBULAR CLUSTER SYSTEM OF NGC 5128 WITH A NEW LARGE SAMPLE OF RADIAL VELOCITY MEASUREMENTS
OLD GLOBULAR CLUSTERS IN MAGELLANIC-TYPE DWARF IRREGULAR GALAXIES