Globular Clusters in the Brightest Coma Spiral Galaxy NGC 4921 and the Distance to the Coma Cluster

  • Jang, In Sung (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University) ;
  • Lee, Myung Gyoon (Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University)
  • Published : 2015.10.15

Abstract

Deep archival V and I image data taken with Hubble Space Telescope have been used to investigate compact stellar objects in an anemic spiral galaxy NGC 4921 in the Coma cluster. We resolve a significant fraction of globular clusters based on the reconstructed master drizzled image data. The color distribution of globular clusters (GCs) shows a clear bimodal distribution. The blue and red GC populations show significantly different radial number density profiles. We derive the turnover magnitudes of globular cluster luminosity functions (GCLFs) for the blue and red GCs in the bulge and halo of NGC 4921. We also derive the GCLFs of two Coma cD galaxies, NGC 4874 and NGC 4889, and one coma S0 galaxy, NGC 4923. Turnover magnitudes of GCs in four galaxies agree well within uncertainties. A mean distance of four Coma galaxies is derived from turnover magnitudes of GCLFs. A value of the Hubble constant is determined from this distance estimate and radial velocity of the Coma. We discuss implications of our results in relation with the recent determinations of the Hubble constant.

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