top of page

Globular Cluster Formation & IntraCluster Globular Clusters

Globular clusters are compact and dense clumps of stars. They are very common, surrounding most galaxies in a rich and extended cloud of globular clusters. In clusters and groups of galaxies, some of a galaxy's globular clusters may be tidally stripped off to form so called intra-cluster globular clusters. Such tidal stripping can form long tidal tails of stars, but these are often too low surface brightness to be observed easily. But the globular clusters often trace out such structures, as a series of high surface birhgtness points, making them useful objects for detecting such features. We test various recipes for the formation of globular clusters, in a fully cosmological context, to try to better constrain their poorly understood origins, and to better constrain the observed properties of intracluster globular clusters.

vcc1087_gcs

VCC1087, a dwarf elliptical galaxy, as observed in the ACS Virgo cluster survey, using the Hubble space telescope. Circles highlight the locations of small points of light, that are the rich globular cluster system of this dwarf. This dwarf galaxy contains ~60 individual globular clusters.

Rory_hat_edited.jpg
bottom of page