The NGC 5128 globular cluster system - A complete analysis of images using COSMOS (original) (raw)

The Astrophysical Journal, 1984

Abstract

ABSTRACT A large region around the peculiar elliptical galaxy NGC 5128 (Centaurus A) has been analyzed using prime focus plates taken in four colors to search for globular clusters. The plates have been scanned with COSMOS and processed to detect and analyze all images (7656 images in the region studied). Image counts show a significant excess of images above background to limiting magnitudes in the range V = 19-20, and these results are important for measuring the cluster luminosity function. Nonstellar images are identified, and a visual classification is used to obtain a sample of likely cluster candidates. Their sizes are estimated using a model of the plate-scanner system, and the completeness of the sample is discussed. Most bright clusters have probably been found, so the bright tail of the luminosity function is now fairly well known. The fainter clusters found here are systematically smaller than the brightest, and the sample is probably very incomplete for faint, compact clusters. Therefore the difference in sizes between bright and faint clusters is probably real. In most respects, the cluster system of NGC 5128 appears to be normal for a large elliptical galaxy.

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