Three newly discovered globular clusters in NGC 6822

Abstract

We present three newly discovered globular clusters (GCs) in the Local Group dwarf irregular NGC 6822. Two are luminous and compact, while the third one is a very low luminosity diffuse cluster. We report the integrated optical photometry of the clusters, drawing on archival Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope/MegaCam data. The spatial positions of the new GCs are consistent with the linear alignment of the already known clusters. The most luminous of the new GCs is also highly elliptical, which we speculate may be due to the low tidal field in its environment. © 2012 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.