The Discovery of Tidal Tails around the Globular Cluster NGC 5466

Abstract

We report the discovery of tidal tails around the high-latitude Galacticglobular cluster NGC 5466 in Sloan Digital Sky Survey data. Neuralnetworks are used to reconstruct the probability distribution of clusterstars in ugriz space. The tails are clearly visible once extragalacticcontaminants and field stars have been eliminated. They extend ~4°on the sky, corresponding to ~1 kpc in projected length. The orientationof the tails is in good agreement with the cluster's Galactic orbit, asjudged from the proper-motion data.