Discovery of a New Low-Latitude Milky Way Globular Cluster using GLIMPSE

Details Discovery of a New Low-Latitude Milky Way Globular Cluster using GLIMPSE Discovery of a New Low-Latitude Milky Way Globular Cluster using GLIMPSE

2004-10-16

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0410400v1

Astron.J. 129 (2005) 239-250

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Accepted for Publication in AJ Report with full resolution images available at http://physics.uwyo.edu/~chip/Glob

Scientific paper

10.1086/426337

Spitzer Space Telescope imaging as part of the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) reveals a previously unidentified low-latitude rich star cluster near l=31.3 degrees, b=-0.1 degrees. Near-infrared JHK' photometry from the Wyoming Infrared Observatory indicates an extinction of A_V ~ 15+/-3 mag for cluster members. Analysis of 13CO features along the same sightline suggests a probable kinematic distance of 3.1 -- 5.2 kpc. The new cluster has an angular diameter of ~1-2 pc, a total magnitude m_{K_0}=2.1 corrected for extinction, and a luminosity of M_K ~ -10.3 at 3.1 kpc. In contrast to young massive Galactic clusters with ages <100 Myr, the new cluster has no significant radio emission. Comparison to theoretical K-band luminosity functions indicates an age of at least several Gyr and a mass of at least 10^5 solar masses. Unlike known old open clusters, this new cluster lies in the inner Galaxy at R_{GC} ~ 6.1 kpc. We designate this object ``GLIMPSE-C01'' and classify it as a Milky Way globular cluster passing through the Galactic disk. We also identify a region of star formation and fan-shaped outflows from young stellar objects in the same field as the cluster. The cluster's passage through the Galactic molecular layer may have triggered this star formation activity.

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