2004/03/10 by S. Moehler, D. Koester, M. Zoccali +4 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Globular cluster #Open cluster #Photometry (optics) #Scientific Research and Discoveries #Spectral line #Spectroscopy #Star cluster #Stellar classification #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #White dwarf #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20035819
published as Astron.Astrophys. 420 (2004) 515-525 · 12 pages, 10 figures, uses aa.cls (included), accepted for publication in A&A
arxiv created 2004/03/10 · openalex publication_date 2004/05/28 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
White dwarfs in globular clusters offer additional possibilities to determine distances and ages of globular clusters, provided their spectral types and masses are known. We therefore started a project to obtain spectra of white dwarfs in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and NGC 6752. All observed white dwarfs show hydrogen-rich spectra and are therefore classified as DA. Analysing the multi-colour photometry of the white dwarfs in NGC 6752 yields an average gravity of = 7.84 and 0.53 as the most probable average mass for globular cluster white dwarfs. Using this average gravity we try to determine independent temperatures by fitting the white dwarf spectra. While the stellar parameters determined from spectroscopy and photometry usually agree within the mutual error bars, the low resolution and S/N of the spectra prevent us from setting constraints stronger than those derived from the photometry alone. For the same reasons the white dwarf spectra obtained for NGC 6397 unfortunately do not provide an independent distance estimate of sufficient accuracy to distinguish between the long and short distance scale for globular clusters.