A new population of extended, luminous star clusters in the halo of M31

We present three new clusters discovered in the halo of M31 which, although having globular-like colours and luminosities, have unusually large half-light radii, ~30 pc. They lie at projected galactocentric distances of ≈15 to ≈35 kpc. These objects begin to fill the gap in parameter space between g...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2005-07, Vol.360 (3), p.1007-1012
Main Authors: Huxor, A. P., Tanvir, N. R., Irwin, M. J., Ibata, R., Collett, J. L., Ferguson, A. M. N., Bridges, T., Lewis, G. F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Astronomy
galaxies: individual: M31
galaxies: star clusters
Milky Way
Stars & galaxies
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Summary:We present three new clusters discovered in the halo of M31 which, although having globular-like colours and luminosities, have unusually large half-light radii, ~30 pc. They lie at projected galactocentric distances of ≈15 to ≈35 kpc. These objects begin to fill the gap in parameter space between globular clusters and dwarf spheroidals, and are unlike any clusters found in the Milky Way, or elsewhere to date. Colour-magnitude diagrams, integrated photometric properties and derived King profile fit parameters are given, and we discuss possible origins of these clusters and their relationships to other populations.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1111/j.1365-2966.2005.09086.x