Astron. Astrophys. Suppl. Ser. 131, 483-497

Integrated spectral study of reddened globular clusters and candidates

E. Bica¹ - J.J. Clariá² - A.E. Piatti² - C. Bonatto ¹

Send offprint request: E. Bica

1 - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul, IF, CP15051, Porto Alegre 91501-970, RS, Brazil
2 - Observatorio Astronómico, Laprida 854, 5000 Córdoba, Argentina

Received January 29; accepted March 23, 1998

Abstract:

This paper presents integrated spectra in the range 6700 - 9500Å for 20 Galactic globular clusters (and candidates) in the bulge and 5 others projected on the Galactic disk ($\vert l\vert\gt 30\mbox{$^{\circ}$}$ and $\vert b\vert<5\mbox{$^{\circ}$}$). Most of them are considerably reddened and are among those least studied in the literature. We derive reddening and metallicity from flux-calibrated spectra, thus providing independent information of that derived through colour-magnitude studies. For some clusters in the sample, these parameters have been determined for the first time, and for others a considerable revision is given. We indicate the globular clusters which definitely belong to the bulge metal-rich and intermediate metallicity families. Among the objects projected on the disk, we find that the integrated spectral properties of Lyngå7, BH176 and Palomar10 are compatible with those of metal-rich globular clusters. Finally, ESO93-SC08 is an old open cluster, and UKS2 is an open cluster with age $\approx1$Gyr.

Key words: (Galaxy:) globular clusters: general -- Galaxy: evolution