2002/07/01 by M. Fellhauer, P. Kroupa · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1086/342539
19 pages, 12 figures, accepted by AJ
arxiv created 2002/07/01 · openalex publication_date 2002/09/24 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
In the lenticular galaxy NGC 1023 a new population of star clusters ("faint fuzzies") was recently discovered by Larsen & Brodie. These clusters are found inside the disk and are faint (23 ≤ V ≤ 24 mag) and extended, with effective radii of r eff ≈ 7 to 15 pc. We present N -body calculations of a likely formation scenario through merging star clusters in clusters of star clusters (superclusters). Such superclusters are observed to form in interacting galaxies. The resulting merger objects have masses comparable to the "faint fuzzies" and show large effective radii ( r eff > 7 pc). Even though these objects are suffering from strong tidal forces they are able to survive and reach the estimated ages of the extended star clusters in NGC 1023.