|
Description
We study the dense core of the globular cluster Messier 13 (NGC 6205) using pre-refurbishment Planetary Camera-I images obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Short exposures (60s) through the F555W and F785LP filters (similar to Johnson V and I, respectively) have been used to obtain V and I photometry of 2877 stars brighter than V~20 in a 1.25arcmin^2^ region of the cluster including its core and extending out to r~66arcsec (2.3pc) from its center. The sample is complete to V~=18.3 (the main sequence turnoff) and the 1{sigma} photometric error is about 0.1mag. We find 15 blue straggler star candidates and 10 other possible blue stragglers in this region of M13. Their specific frequency is in the range F_(BSS)=0.04-0.07, comparable to what is observed near the centers of other dense clusters. A comparison between M13's observed V band stellar luminosity function and a theoretical model (Bergbusch & Vandenberg, 1992ApJS...81..163B) for the luminosity function of an old, metal-poor cluster shows that the model predicts too few of the brightest red giants (V~12.5-15) by a factor of two relative to subgiants/turnoff stars (>6{sigma} effect). The radial distributions of red giants, blue stragglers, and subgiants are consistent with one another, and are well fit by a King profile of core radius r_(core)_=38+/-6arcsec (90% confidence limits) or 1.3pc. Stars in the blue horizontal branch of M13, however, appear to be centrally depleted relative to other stellar types. We combine data from three dense ``King model clusters,'' M13, M3, and 47 Tuc, and two post core collapse clusters, M30 and M15, and compare the distributions of various stellar types as a function of (r/r_(half light)_) and (r/r_(core)_). The horizontal branch stars in the combined sample appear to be centrally depleted relative to the giants (97% significance), this depletion is only a 1-2{sigma} effect in each of the clusters taken individually. The blue stragglers in the combined sample are centrally concentrated relative to the giants. (Copyright) 1997 American Astronomical Society.
|
