Scientific Seminars

Study of the asymmetry of the Globular Cluster population of NGC 4261

P. Bonfini
University of Crete

2011-09-23    14.30    Merate - POE

We performed an analysis of the Globular Cluster (GC) population of the elliptical galaxy NGC4261 based on HST WFPC2 data in the B, V and I bands. We characterised the GCs population deriving its Luminosity Function and color distribution. Most importantly, we studied the 2D spatial distribution of GCs in order to probe the azimuthal asymmetry of the discrete X-ray sources in the galaxy revealed by Chandra images (Zezas et al. 2003, Giordano et al. 2005). We found a significant asymmetry in GC population about a NE-SW axis.The lack of any obvious feature in the morphology of the galaxy suggests that the asymmetry could be the remnant of an interaction or a merger.