Globular Clusters in the Central Region of Nearby Galaxy Clusters

Abstract

In this contribution, first results of deep VLT photometry (V,I) in the central region of the Hydra I and Centaurus galaxy clusters are presented. In both galaxy clusters, many star clusters have been identified down to the turnover magnitude of the globular cluster luminosity function at V=26.0 mag. They are distributed not only around the several early-type galaxies, but also in the intra-cluster field, as far as 250 kpc from the cluster centers. Outside the bulges of the central galaxies in Hydra I and Centaurus, the intra-cluster globular cluster system is dominated by blue clusters whose spatial distribution is similar to that of the (newly discovered) dwarf galaxies.