J/A+A/435/65ivo://CDS.VizieR/J/A+A/435/65doi:10.26093/cds/vizier.34350065CDSBastian N.Hempel H.Kissler-Patig M.Homeier N.Trancho G.2005-05-05T13:25:49Z2005-05-05T13:25:39ZCDS support team

CDS, Observatoire de Strasbourg, 11 rue de l'Universite, F-67000 Strasbourg, France

cds-question@unistra.frstellar-associationsinfrared-photometryvisible-astronomybroad-band-photometryWe present a photometric analysis of the rich star cluster population in the tidal tails of NGC 6872. We find star clusters with ages between 1-100Myr distributed in the tidal tails, while the tails themselves have an age of less than 150Myr. Most of the young massive (10^4^<=M/M_{sun}<=10^7^) clusters are found in the outer regions of the galactic disk or the tidal tails. The mass distribution of the cluster population can be well described by a power-law of the form N(m){prop.to}m^-alpha^, where alpha=1.85+/-0.11, in very good agreement with other young cluster populations found in a variety of different environments. We estimate the star formation rate for three separate regions of the galaxy, and find that the eastern tail is forming stars at ~2 times the rate of the western tail and ~5 times the rate of the main body of the galaxy. By comparing our observations with published N-body models of the fate of material in tidal tails in a galaxy cluster potential, we see that many of these young clusters will be lost into the intergalactic medium. We speculate that this mechanism may also be at work in larger galaxy clusters such as Fornax, and suggest that the so-called ultra-compact dwarf galaxies could be the most massive star clusters that have formed in the tidal tails of an ancient galactic merger.2005A&A...435...65Bhttps://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/cat/J/A+A/435/65CatalogResearchIsServedByTAP VizieR generic serviceIsServedByConesearch servicehttps://cds.unistra.fr/vizier-org/licences_vizier.htmlhttps://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/435/65https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/435/65http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/VizieR-2?-source=J/A+A/435/65https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/435/65https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/435/65http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/votable?-source=J/A+A/435/65GETtext/xml+votablehttps://tapvizier.cds.unistra.fr/TAPVizieR/tapCone search capability for table J/A+A/435/65/table2 (Cluster positions, magnitudes and derived properties)https://vizier.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/435/65/table2?https://vizier.iucaa.in/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/435/65/table2?http://vizieridia.saao.ac.za/viz-bin/conesearch/J/A+A/435/65/table2?GETtext/xml+votable180.050000true304.4003125-70.7509750.0055555555555555566/45633 45636https://cdsarc.cds.unistra.fr/viz-bin/moc/J/A+A/435/65?format=asciiOpticalInfrareddefaultJ/A+A/435/65/table2Cluster positions, magnitudes and derived propertiesrecnoRecord number assigned by the VizieR team. Should Not be used for identification.intSeqSequential number of the cluster candidateintRAJ2000Right ascension (J2000.0)pos.eq.ra;meta.mainDEJ2000Declination (J2000.0)pos.eq.dec;meta.mainXposX position of the source (1)pixfloatYposY position of the source (1)pixfloatUmagU magnitude of the source(2)magfloate_UmagError in the U magmagfloatBmagB magnitude of the source(2)magfloate_BmagError in the B magmagfloatVmagV magnitude of the source(2)magfloate_VmagError in the V magmagfloatIcmagCousins I magnitude of the source(2)magfloate_IcmagError in the Ic magmagfloatchi2Reduced chi-squared of the best fitting modelfloatAVTotal V-band extinction of the sourcemagfloatlogAgeLogarithmic best fitting age of the sourcelog(yr)floatlogMassLogarithmic best fitting mass of the sourcelog(solMass)floatVMAGAbsolute magnitude of the source (3)magfloat