2009/04/10 by J. Anderson, G. Piotto, I. R. King +2 · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #astro-ph.GA
paper · pdf · doi:10.1088/0004-637x/697/1/l58
published as Astrophys.J.697:L58-L62,2009 · 11 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2009/04/10 · openalex publication_date 2009/04/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/31
We exploit the large number of archival Hubble Space Telescope images of 47 Tuc to examine its subgiant branch (SGB) and main sequence (MS) for signs of multiple populations. In the cluster core, we find that the cluster's SGB exhibits a clear spread in luminosity, with at least two distinct components: a brighter one with a spread that is real but not bimodal, and a second one about 0.05 mag fainter, containing about 10% of the stars. In a less crowded field 6' from the center, we find that the MS is broadened much more than can be accounted for by photometric errors, and that this broadening increases at fainter magnitudes.