FSR 1716: A New Milky Way Globular Cluster Confirmed Using VVV RR Lyrae Stars

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Fecha
2017-03
Profesor/a Guía
Facultad/escuela
Idioma
en
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ISSN de la revista
Título del volumen
Editor
Institute of Physics Publishing
Nombre de Curso
Licencia CC
ATRIBUCIÓN 4.0 INTERNACIONAL CC BY 4.0 Deed
Licencia CC
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.es
Resumen
We use deep multi-epoch near-IR images of the VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea (VVV) Survey to search for RR Lyrae stars toward the Southern Galactic plane. Here, we report the discovery of a group of RR Lyrae stars close together in VVV tile d025. Inspection of the VVV images and PSF photometry reveals that most of these stars are likely to belong to a globular cluster that matches the position of the previously known star cluster FSR 1716. The stellar density map of the field yields a >100σ detection for this candidate globular cluster that is centered at equatorial coordinates R.A.J2000 = 16:10:30.0, decl.J2000 = -53:44:56 and galactic coordinates l = 329.77812, b = -1.59227. The color-magnitude diagram of this object reveals a well-populated red giant branch, with a prominent red clump at K s = 13.35 ±0.05, and J - K s = 1.30 ±0.05. We present the cluster RR Lyrae positions, magnitudes, colors, periods, and amplitudes. The presence of RR Lyrae indicates an old globular cluster, with an age >10 Gyr. We classify this object as an Oosterhoff type I globular cluster, based on the mean period of its RR Lyrae type ab, days, and argue that this is a relatively metal-poor cluster with [Fe/H] = -1.5 ±0.4 dex. The mean extinction and reddening for this cluster are and E(J - K s) = 0.72 ±0.02 mag, respectively, as measured from the RR Lyrae colors and the near-IR color-magnitude diagram. We also measure the cluster distance using the RR Lyrae type ab stars. The cluster mean distance modulus is (m - M)0 = 14.38 ±0.03 mag, implying a distance D = 7.5 ±0.2 kpc and a Galactocentric distance R G = 4.3 kpc. © 2017. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.
Notas
Indexación: Scopus
Palabras clave
galaxies: photometry, globular clusters: general, stars: variables: RR Lyrae
Citación
Astrophysical Journal Letters Volume 838, Issue 120 March 2017 Article number L14
DOI
10.3847/2041-8213/838/1/L14
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