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M. Odenkirchen, E.K. Grebel, W. Dehnen, H.W. Rix (MPIA), C.M. Rockosi (U. Washington), H. Newberg (RPI), B. Yanny (FNAL)
Wide-field photometric data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) have revealed that the Galactic globular cluster Palomar 5 is in the process of being tidally disrupted (Odenkirchen et al., 2001, ApJ, 548, L165). Meanwhile, the SDSS has collected data for a much larger field around the cluster. By analysing the new dataset we have discovered that the tidal tails of Pal 5 extend over an arc of at least 10 degrees on the sky, corresponding to a length of about 4 kpc at the distance of the cluster. The leading arm is visible over 3.5 degrees and probably continues beyond the current limit of the field. The trailing arm is detected out to 6.5 degrees from the cluster and shows a prominent density maximum at about 3 degrees north-east of the center of Pal 5. The stellar mass visible in these extended tails is about 1.3 times the mass of stars in the cluster. The location and curvature of the tails sets tight constraints on the local orbit of the cluster. We will present our new map of the distribution of Pal 5's tidal debris and its surface density profile, and will discuss the constraints on the galactic orbit of the cluster and the rate of mass loss implied by the mass of stars in the tails, the geometry of the tails, and the orbit.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: odenk@mpia-hd.mpg.de
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 34
© 2002. The American Astronomical Soceity.