Extragalactic globular clusters with Euclid and other wide surveys

Abstract

Globular clusters play a role in many areas of astrophysics, ranging from stellar physics to cosmology. New ground-based optical surveys complemented by observations from space-based telescopes with unprecedented near-infrared capabilities will help us solve the puzzles of their formation histories. In this context, the Wide Survey of the Euclid space mission will provide red and near-infrared data over about 15000 square degrees of the sky. Combined with optical photometry from the ground, it will allow us to construct a global picture of the globular cluster populations in both dense and tenuous environments out to tens of megaparsecs. The homogeneous photometry of these data sets will rejuvenate stellar population studies that depend on precise spectral energy distributions. We provide a brief overview of these perspectives.

4 pages, 1 figure. Proceedings of an oral contribution to Session 23 "Wide Field Photometric Surveys II" of the 2021 meeting of SF2A (Société Française d'Astronomie et d'Astrophysique), June 9, 2021. Reviewed by the proceedings editors and the Euclid Consortium editorial board