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Faint stellar systems in the Virgo cluster: ultracompact dwarfs and globular clusters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 November 2005

Monica Haşegan  and
Patrick Côté
Monica Haşegan
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA email: mhasegan@physics.rutgers.edu Institute for Space Sciences, P.O.Box MG-23, RO 77125, Bucharest-Magurele, Romania
Patrick Côté
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854, USA email: mhasegan@physics.rutgers.edu Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, National Research Council of Canada, 5071 West Saanich Road, Victoria, BC, V9E 287, Canada email: Patrick.Cote@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca
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Abstract

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We examine the properties of ten compact objects in the vicinity of M87 using HST imaging and Keck spectroscopy. We find three objects to be larger and brighter than typical globular clusters; they resemble the nuclei of nucleated dEs in Virgo, having similar mass-to-light ratios, luminosities and colors. Their properties are consistent with models of tidally stripping of nucleated dEs. One object could be an old “stellar supercluster”, formed through the amalgamation of multiple young massive clusters. Two other objects appear to be massive versions of otherwise “normal” globular clusters.

Keywords

galaxies: clusters: individual (Virgo) – galaxies: star clusters – galaxies: dwarf – galaxies: formation – galaxies: kinematics and dynamics
Type
Contributed Papers
Information
Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 1 , Colloquium C198: Near-Field Cosmology with Dwarf Elliptical Galaxies , March 2005 , pp. 416 - 417
Copyright
© 2005 International Astronomical Union