Globular Cluster Metallicity Subpopulations in NGC 4472

Strader, Jay; Beasley, Michael A.; Brodie, Jean P.
Referencia bibliográfica

The Astronomical Journal, Volume 133, Issue 5, pp. 2015-2019.

Fecha de publicación:
5
2007
Número de autores
3
Número de autores del IAC
1
Número de citas
49
Número de citas referidas
48
Descripción
Bimodality is a common feature of globular cluster (GC) color distributions in galaxies. Although it is well known that the GC system of the Milky Way is bimodal in metallicity, this has yet to be directly demonstrated for an elliptical galaxy. We use Lick index measurements from the literature to derive metallicities for 47 GCs in the giant Virgo elliptical galaxy NGC 4472. The resulting distribution shows clear evidence for two metallicity subpopulations of GCs.