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Discovery of a New Low-Latitude Milky Way Globular Cluster using GLIMPSE

Chip Kobulnicky, A. J. Monson, B. A Buckalew, J. M. Darnel, B. Uzpen, B. A. Whitney, R. Indebetouw, B. L. Babler, M. R. Meade, C. Watson, E. Churchwell, M. J. Wolff, M. G. Wolfire, D. P. Clemens, R. Shah, T. M. Bania, R. A. Benjamin, M. Cohen, K. E. Devine, J. M. Dickey, F. Heitsch, J. M. Jackson, A. P. Marston, J. S. Mathis, E. P. Mercer, J. R. Stauffer, S. R. Stolovy, J. P. Norris, A. Kutyrev, R. Canterna, M. J. Pierce

astro-pharXiv:astro-ph/0410400

Abstract

Spitzer Space Telescope imaging as part of the Galactic Legacy Mid-Plane Survey Extraordinaire (GLIMPSE) reveals a previously unidentified low-latitude rich star cluster near l=31.3 degrees, b=-0.1 degrees. Near-infrared JHK' photometry from the Wyoming Infrared Observatory indicates an extinction of AV ~ 15+/-3 mag for cluster members. Analysis of 13CO features along the same sightline suggests a probable kinematic distance of 3.1 -- 5.2 kpc. The new cluster has an angular diameter of ~1-2 pc, a total magnitude mK0=2.1 corrected for extinction, and a luminosity of MK ~ -10.3 at 3.1 kpc. In contrast to young massive Galactic clusters with ages <100 Myr, the new cluster has no significant radio emission. Comparison to theoretical K-band luminosity functions indicates an age of at least several Gyr and a mass of at least 105 solar masses. Unlike known old open clusters, this new cluster lies in the inner Galaxy at RGC ~ 6.1 kpc. We designate this object ``GLIMPSE-C01'' and classify it as a Milky Way globular cluster passing through the Galactic disk. We also identify a region of star formation and fan-shaped outflows from young stellar objects in the same field as the cluster. The cluster's passage through the Galactic molecular layer may have triggered this star formation activity.

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