A Kinematic View of NGC 1261: Structural Parameters, Internal Dispersion, Absolute Proper Motion, and Blue Straggler Stars

2020/04/20 by S. Raso, Silvia Raso, Mattia Libralato +19 · 36 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy and Astrophysical Research #Blue straggler #Cluster (spacecraft) #Fundamental plane (elliptical galaxies) #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Globular cluster #Proper motion #Radial velocity #Star cluster #Stars #Stellar, planetary, and galactic studies #Velocity dispersion #astro-ph.GA #astro-ph.SR

paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4357/ab8ae7

published in The Astrophysical Journal 895(1), 15 (IOP Publishing) · 19 pages, 12 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ

arxiv created 2020/04/20 · openalex created_date 2020/05/01 · openalex publication_date 2020/05/01 · arxiv updated 2020/05/27 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract We constructed a Hubble Space Telescope (HST) astrophotometric catalog of the central region of the Galactic globular cluster NGC 1261. This catalog, complemented with Gaia DR2 data sampling the external regions, has been used to estimate the structural parameters of the system (i.e., core, half-mass, tidal radii, and concentration) from its resolved star density profile. We computed high-precision proper motions thanks to multi-epoch HST data and derived the cluster velocity dispersion profile in the plane of the sky for the innermost region, finding that the system is isotropic. The combination with the line-of-sight information collected from spectroscopy in the external regions provided us with the cluster velocity dispersion profile along the entire radial extension. We also measured the absolute proper motion of NGC 1261 using a few background galaxies as a reference. The radial distribution of the Blue Straggler Star population shows that the cluster is in a low/intermediate phase of dynamical evolution.

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