oMEGACat. II. Photometry and Proper Motions for 1.4 Million Stars in Omega Centauri and Its Rotation in the Plane of the Sky

Autor(en)
Maximilian Häberle, N. Neumayer, A. Bellini, M. Libralato, C. Clontz, A. C. Seth, M. S. Nitschai, S. Kamann, M. Alfaro-Cuello, J. Anderson, S. Dreizler, A. Feldmeier-Krause, N. Kacharov, M. Latour, A. P. Milone, R. Pechetti, G. van de Ven, K. Voggel
Abstrakt

Omega Centauri (ω Cen) is the most massive globular cluster of the Milky Way. It is thought to be the nucleus of an accreted dwarf galaxy because of its high mass and its complex stellar populations. To decipher its formation history and study its dynamics, we created the most comprehensive kinematic catalog for its inner region, by analyzing both archival and new Hubble Space Telescope (HST) data. Our catalog contains 1,395,781 proper-motion measurements out to the half-light radius of the cluster ( ∼ 5.0 ′ ) and down to m F625W ≈ 25 mag. The typical baseline for our proper-motion measurements is 20 yr, leading to a median 1D proper motion precision of ∼11 μas yr−1 for stars with m F625W ≈ 18 mag, with even better precision (∼6.6 μas yr−1) achieved in the extensively observed centermost ( r < 1.5 ′ ) region. In addition to our astrometric measurements, we also obtained precise HST photometry in seven filters spanning from the ultraviolet to the near-infrared. This allows detailed color-magnitude diagram studies and separation of the multiple stellar populations of the cluster. In this work, we describe the data reduction used to obtain both the photometric and the proper-motion measurements. We also illustrate the creation and the content of our catalog, which is made publicly available. Finally, we present measurements of the plane-of-sky rotation of ω Cen in the previously unprobed inner few arcminutes and a precise measurement of the inclination, i = 43.°9 ± 1.°3.

Organisation(en)
Institut für Astrophysik
Externe Organisation(en)
Max-Planck-Institut für Astronomie, Space Telescope Science Institute, INAF - Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, University of Utah, Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU), Universidad Central de Chile, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, Leibniz-Institut für Astrophysik Potsdam, Università degli Studi di Padova, Université de Strasbourg
Journal
Astrophysical Journal
Band
970
ISSN
0004-637X
DOI
https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-4357/ad47f5
Publikationsdatum
08-2024
Peer-reviewed
Ja
ÖFOS 2012
103003 Astronomie, 103004 Astrophysik
ASJC Scopus Sachgebiete
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Space and Planetary Science
Link zum Portal
https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/6e86d2d4-66b2-40f4-b01c-8df76eb57c48