A Subaru/Suprime-Cam wide-field survey of globular cluster populations around M87

Abstract

We report a wide-field imaging survey of the globular cluster (GC) populations around M87 with Suprime-Cam on the 8.2 m Subaru telescope. By investigating the GC colour distributions and surface number densities as a function of distance from the host galaxy, we argue that the contribution of GCs associated with the Virgo cluster (i.e. intergalactic GCs) is insignificant around M87; most of the blue GCs around luminous ellipticals as well as the red GCs are presumably associated with the host galaxy. © 2009 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.