Mercer 5: a probable new globular cluster in the Galactic bulge

A J Longmore; R Kurtev; P W Lucas; D Froebrich; R de Grijs; V D Ivanonv; Thomas Maccarone; J Borissova; L M Ker

Mercer 5: a probable new globular cluster in the Galactic bulge

A J Longmore, R Kurtev, P W Lucas, D Froebrich, R de Grijs, V D Ivanonv, Thomas Maccarone, J Borissova, L M Ker

Physics

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

We present a detailed study of a dust-obscured Galactic star cluster Mercer 5 ([MCM2005b] 5) in an extremely crowded field in the Milky Way. Near-infrared (near-IR) photometry from United Kingdom Infrared Digital Sky Surveys (UKIDSS) and the Son of ISAAC on the New Technology Telescope (SofI/NTT), combined with near-IR spectroscopy also from SofI, indicates that it is almost certainly a Galactic globular cluster, located at the edge of the Galactic bulge. The cluster suffers ˜9 mag of visual extinction, with strong evidence for an extinction gradient across the cluster. A simulation of the differential reddening in the cluster using empirical data from NGC 6539 (chosen because it had high signal-to-noise ratio data and low field star contamination) as a template mimics the observations extremely well. This simulation and other arguments are used to indicate that the most prominent clump of stars in the colour-magnitude diagrams is a horizontal branch clump. On this basis we conclude

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	465
Journal	Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
State	Published - Sep 2011

Cite this

@article{f3587b22fafa405bad371443902c4d5e,

title = "Mercer 5: a probable new globular cluster in the Galactic bulge",

abstract = "We present a detailed study of a dust-obscured Galactic star cluster Mercer 5 ([MCM2005b] 5) in an extremely crowded field in the Milky Way. Near-infrared (near-IR) photometry from United Kingdom Infrared Digital Sky Surveys (UKIDSS) and the Son of ISAAC on the New Technology Telescope (SofI/NTT), combined with near-IR spectroscopy also from SofI, indicates that it is almost certainly a Galactic globular cluster, located at the edge of the Galactic bulge. The cluster suffers ˜9 mag of visual extinction, with strong evidence for an extinction gradient across the cluster. A simulation of the differential reddening in the cluster using empirical data from NGC 6539 (chosen because it had high signal-to-noise ratio data and low field star contamination) as a template mimics the observations extremely well. This simulation and other arguments are used to indicate that the most prominent clump of stars in the colour-magnitude diagrams is a horizontal branch clump. On this basis we conclude",

author = "Longmore, {A J} and R Kurtev and Lucas, {P W} and D Froebrich and Grijs, {R de} and Ivanonv, {V D} and Thomas Maccarone and J Borissova and Ker, {L M}",

year = "2011",

month = sep,

language = "English",

pages = "465",

journal = "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",

}

TY - JOUR

T1 - Mercer 5: a probable new globular cluster in the Galactic bulge

AU - Longmore, A J

AU - Kurtev, R

AU - Lucas, P W

AU - Froebrich, D

AU - Grijs, R de

AU - Ivanonv, V D

AU - Maccarone, Thomas

AU - Borissova, J

AU - Ker, L M

PY - 2011/9

Y1 - 2011/9

N2 - We present a detailed study of a dust-obscured Galactic star cluster Mercer 5 ([MCM2005b] 5) in an extremely crowded field in the Milky Way. Near-infrared (near-IR) photometry from United Kingdom Infrared Digital Sky Surveys (UKIDSS) and the Son of ISAAC on the New Technology Telescope (SofI/NTT), combined with near-IR spectroscopy also from SofI, indicates that it is almost certainly a Galactic globular cluster, located at the edge of the Galactic bulge. The cluster suffers ˜9 mag of visual extinction, with strong evidence for an extinction gradient across the cluster. A simulation of the differential reddening in the cluster using empirical data from NGC 6539 (chosen because it had high signal-to-noise ratio data and low field star contamination) as a template mimics the observations extremely well. This simulation and other arguments are used to indicate that the most prominent clump of stars in the colour-magnitude diagrams is a horizontal branch clump. On this basis we conclude

AB - We present a detailed study of a dust-obscured Galactic star cluster Mercer 5 ([MCM2005b] 5) in an extremely crowded field in the Milky Way. Near-infrared (near-IR) photometry from United Kingdom Infrared Digital Sky Surveys (UKIDSS) and the Son of ISAAC on the New Technology Telescope (SofI/NTT), combined with near-IR spectroscopy also from SofI, indicates that it is almost certainly a Galactic globular cluster, located at the edge of the Galactic bulge. The cluster suffers ˜9 mag of visual extinction, with strong evidence for an extinction gradient across the cluster. A simulation of the differential reddening in the cluster using empirical data from NGC 6539 (chosen because it had high signal-to-noise ratio data and low field star contamination) as a template mimics the observations extremely well. This simulation and other arguments are used to indicate that the most prominent clump of stars in the colour-magnitude diagrams is a horizontal branch clump. On this basis we conclude

M3 - Article

SP - 465

JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

JF - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

ER -

Mercer 5: a probable new globular cluster in the Galactic bulge

Abstract

Fingerprint

Cite this