Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-5xszh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-26T17:34:34.628Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

NGC 5128: The Giant Beneath

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2013

Gretchen L. H. Harris
Affiliation:
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo ON, N2L 3G1, Canada. Email: glharris@astro.uwaterloo.ca
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

This paper reviews what has been learned about the old stellar population of NGC 5128, the only large elliptical galaxy close enough that we can currently observe individual stars as faint as the horizontal branch. Although its galaxy type is still a matter of debate, the uncertainties over distance are now largely resolved; comparison of five stellar distance indicators gives d= 3.8±0.1 Mpc. The globular cluster system, which was once perplexingly invisible, is now known to be predominantly old with a substantial metal-rich component. The globular cluster system (GCS) total population and luminosity function are normal and the clusters follow the same fundamental plane relation as those in the Milky Way and M31. Finally, the halo out to at least ∼7reff is dominated by metal-rich stars which are also predominantly old, with age and metallicity tantalizingly similar to the majority of globular clusters.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Astronomical Society of Australia 2010

References

Baade, W. & Minkowski, R., 1954, ApJ, 119, 215CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barmby, P., McLaughlin, D. E., Harris, W. E., Harris, G. L. H. & Forbes, D. A., 2007, AJ, 133, 2764CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Beasley, M. A., Bridges, T., Peng, E., Harris, W. E., Harris, G. L. H., Forbes, D. A. & Mackie, G., 2008, MNRAS, 386, 1443Google Scholar
deVaucouleurs, G. & Capaccioli, M., 1979, ApJS, 40, 699CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Djorgovski, S., 1995, ApJ, 438L, 29CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dufour, R. J., Harvel, C. A., Martins, D. M., Schffer, F. H. III, Talent, D. L., Wells, D. C., van den Bergh, S. & Talbot, R. J. Jr., 1979, AJ, 84, 284CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ebneter, K. & Balick, B., 1983, PASP, 95, 675CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ford, H. C., Ciardullo, R., Jacoby, G. H. & Hui, X., 1989, IAUS, 131, 335Google Scholar
Freeman, K. C., 1970, ApJ, 160, 811CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frogel, J. A., 1984, ApJ, 278, 119CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. A., 1979, ApJ, 232, 60CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Graham, J. A. & Phillips, M. M., 1980, ApJ, 239L, 97CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gomez, M. & Woodley, K. A., 2007, ApJ, 670L, 105CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, W. E., 2001, Saas-Fee Advanced Course 28, Lecture Notes 1998, Swiss Society for Astrophysics and Astronomy, Eds. Labhardt, L. & Binggale, B. (Berlin: Springer-Verlag), 223Google Scholar
Harris, W. E., 2010, Phil Trans Roy Soc, 368, 889Google Scholar
Harris, W. E. & Racine, R., 1997, ARAA, 17, 241CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, W. E. & van den Bergh, S., 1981, AJ, 86, 1627CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H., Hesser, J. E., Harris, H. C. & Curry, P. J., 1984, ApJ, 287, 175CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H., Geisler, D., Harris, H. C. & Hesser, J. E., 1992, AJ, 104, 613CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H., Harris, W. E. & Poole, G. B., 1999, AJ, 117, 855CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H. & Harris, W. E., 2000, AJ, 120, 2423CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, W. E. & Harris, G. L. H., 2002, AJ, 123, 3108CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, W. E., Harris, G. L. H., Holland, S. T. & McLaughlin, D. E., 2002, AJ, 124, 1435CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H. et al. , 2004a, AJ, 128, 712CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. L. H., Harris, W. E. & Geisler, D., 2004b, AJ, 128, 723CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, W. E., Harris, G. L. H., Layden, A. C. & Wehner, E. M. H., 2007, ApJ, 666, 903CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, G. H., Rejkuba, M. & Harris, W. E., 2010, PASA, in press (arXiv:0911.3180).Google Scholar
Haşegan, M. et al. , 2005, ApJ, 27, 203CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hesser, J. E., Harris, H. C., Harris, G. L. H. & Lafontaine, A., 1986, BAAS, 18, 902Google Scholar
Hui, X., Ford, H. C., Ciardullo, R. & Jacoby, G. H., 1993, ApJ, 414, 463CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Israel, F. P., 1998, ARAA, 8, 237Google Scholar
Jacoby, G. H., Ciardullo, R. & Ford, H. C., 1988, ASP 100th Anniversary Symp. Proc., Victoria, Canada, 1998 June 29–July 10 (San Francisco, CA, Astronomical Society of the Pacific), 42Google Scholar
Kalirai, J. S. et al. , 2006, ApJ, 648, 389CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, I. R., 1962, AJ, 67, 471CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McConnachie, A. W., Irwin, M. J., Ferguson, A. M. N., Ibata, R. A., Lewis, G. F. & Tanvir, N., 2005, MNRAS, 356, 979Google Scholar
McLaughlin, D. E., 2000, ApJ, 539, 618CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McLaughlin, D. E., Barmby, P., Harris, W. E., Forbes, D. A. & Harris, G. L. H., 2008, MNRAS, 384, 563Google Scholar
Metcalfe, N., Shanks, T., Campos, A., Cracken, H. J. & Fong, R., 2001, MNRAS, 373, 795Google Scholar
Mieske, S. et al. , 2008, AA, 487, 921Google Scholar
Morgan, W. W., 1958, PASP, 70, 364CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, E. W., Ford, H. C. & Freeman, K. C., 2004a, ApJ, 602, 685CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peng, E., Ford, H. C. & Freeman, K. C., 2004b, ApJ, 602, 705CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rejkuba, M., Minniti, D., Silva, D. R. & Bedding, T. R., 2001, AA, 379, 781Google Scholar
Rejkuba, M., Minniti, D., Silva, D. R. & Bedding, T. R., 2003, AA, 411, 351Google Scholar
Rejkuba, M., 2004, AA, 413, 903Google Scholar
Rejkuba, M., Greggio, L., Harris, W. E., Harris, G. L. H. & Peng, E. W., 2005, ApJ, 631, 262CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rejkuba, M., Dubath, P., Minniti, D. & Maylan, G., 2007, AA, 469, 147Google Scholar
Sandage, A., 1961, The Hubble Atlas of Galaxies, Carnegie Institution of Washington Publications 618 (Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington)Google Scholar
Sandage, A. & Tammann, G. A., 1981, A Revised Shapley-Ames Catalog of Bright Galaxies (Carnegie Institution of Washington Publ. 635; Washington, DC: Carnegie Institution of Washington)Google Scholar
Schlegel, D. J., Finkbeiner, D. P. & Davis, M., 1998, ApJ, 500, 525CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sérsic, J. L., 1958, Obs, 78, 24Google Scholar
Soria, R. et al. , 1996, ApJ, 465, 79CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bergh, S., 1976, ApJ, 206, 883CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bergh, S., 1979, PASP, 91, 639CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bergh, S., Hesser, J. E. & Harris, G. L. H., 1981, AJ, 86, 24CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bergh, S., 1990, ApJ, 348, 57CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van den Bergh, S., 2009Google Scholar
van den Berg, D. A., Swenson, F. J., Rogers, F. J., Iglesias, C. A. & Alexander, D. R., 2000, ApJ, 532, 430CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, J., Walton, N. A., Jacoby, G. H. & Priest, E. R., 1999, AA, 346, 793Google Scholar
Walsh, J. R., Rejkuba, M. & Walton, N. A., 2010, in preparationGoogle Scholar
Woodley, K. A., Harris, W. E. & Harris, G. L. H., 2005, AJ, 129, 2654CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodley, K. A., Harris, W. E., Beasley, M. A., Peng, E. W., Bridges, T. J., Forbes, D. A. & Harris, G. L. H., 2007, AJ, 134, 494CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodley, K. A., Harris, W. E., Puzia, T., Gomez, M., Harris, G. L. H. & Geisler, D., 2010a, AJ, in press (arXiv:1002.3142)Google Scholar
Woodley, K. A. & Gomez, M., 2010, PASA, in press (arXiv:0911.2552)Google Scholar