| Issue |
A&A
Volume 489, Number 2, October II 2008
|
|
|---|---|---|
| Page(s) | 583 - 587 | |
| Section | Galactic structure, stellar clusters, and populations | |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361:200809425 | |
| Published online | 18 August 2008 | |
Obscured clusters. II. GLIMPSE-C02 – A new metal rich globular cluster in the Milky Way *,**
1
Departamento de Física y Astronomía, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Ave. Gran Bretaña 1111, Playa Ancha, Casilla 53, Valparaíso, Chile e-mail: radostin.kurtev@uv.cl; jura.borissova@uv.cl
2
European Southern Observatory, Ave. Alonso de Cordova 3107, Casilla 19, Santiago 19001, Chile e-mail: vivanov@eso.org
3
Universitá di Padova, Dipartimento di Astronomia, Vicolo dell'Osservatorio 5, 35122 Padova, Italy e-mail: sergio.ortolani@unipd.it
Received:
18
January
2008
Accepted:
18
July
2008
Context. The estimated total number of Milky Way globulars is 160 ± 20. The question of whether there are any more undiscovered globular clusters in the Milky Way is particularly relevant with advances in near and mid-IR instrumentation.
Aims. This investigation is a part of a long-term project to search
the inner Milky Way for hidden star clusters and to study them
in detail. GLIMPSE-C02 (G02) is one of these objects, situated
near the Galactic plane (
, 
).
Methods. Our analysis is based on SOFI/NTT JHKS imaging and
low resolution (
) spectroscopy of three bright cluster
red giants in the K atmospheric window. We derived the metal
abundance by analysis of these spectra and from the slope of the RGB.
Results. The cluster is deeply embedded in dust and undergoes a mean reddening
of AV ~ 24.8 ± 3 mag. The distance to the object is
kpc. The metal abundance of G02 is
[Fe/H]
and [Fe/H]CG = -0.16 ± 0.12
using different scales. The best
fit to the radial surface brightness profile with a single-mass
King's model yields a core radius rc = 0.70 arcmin (0.9 pc),
tidal radius rt = 15 arcmin (20 pc), and central concentration
.
Conclusions. We demonstrate that G02 is new Milky Way globular cluster, among the most metal rich globular clusters in the Galaxy. The object is physically located at the inner edge of the thin disk and the transition region with the bulge, and also falls in the zone of the “missing” globulars toward the central region of the Milky Way.
Key words: Galaxy: globular clusters: general / Galaxy: abundances / stars: distances / stars: abundances / Galaxy: globular clusters: individual: GLIPMSE-CO2
© ESO, 2008
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