A wide-field kinematic survey for tidal tails around five globular clusters

Abstract

Using the AAOmega instrument of the Anglo-Australian Telescope, we have obtained medium-resolution near-infrared spectra of 10,500 stars in two-degree fields centered on the galactic globular clusters 47 Tuc, NGC 288, M12, M30 and M55. Radial velocities and equivalent widths of the infrared Ca II triplet lines have been determined to constrain cluster membership, which in turn has been used to study the angular extent of the clusters. From the analysis of 140-1000 member stars in each cluster, we do not find extended structures that go beyond the tidal radii. For three cluster we estimate a 1% upper limit of extra-tidal red giant branch stars. We detect systemic rotation in 47 Tuc and M55.

arXiv comment4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ Letters

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Cited by in corpus (14)

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• Search for Extratidal Features Around 17 Globular Clusters in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
• Monte Carlo Simulations of Star Clusters - VII. The globular cluster 47 Tuc
• Distance determination for RAVE stars using stellar models
• Testing Newtonian Gravity with AAOmega: Mass-to-Light Profiles of Four Globular Clusters
• SPITZER/IRAC-MIPS Survey of NGC2451A and B: Debris Disks at 50-80 million years
• AAOmega spectroscopy of 29 351 stars in fields centered on ten Galactic globular clusters
• Testing Newtonian Gravity with AAOmega: Mass-To-Light Profiles and Metallicity Calibrations From 47 Tuc and M55
• A Spectroscopic Survey for Omega Centauri Members at and beyond the Cluster Tidal Radius
• AAOmega radial velocities rule out current membership of the planetary nebula NGC 2438 in the open cluster M46
• A Proper Motions Study of the Globular Cluster M12 (NGC 6218)
• Radial velocities of five globular clusters obtained with AAOmega