Astron. Astrophys. 339, 61-69 (1998)

6. Summary and conclusions

The first deep V, I CCD photometry for the Galactic globular cluster Palomar 12 has been presented. The wide field allowed us to sample the cluster stellar population well beyond the tidal radius. All stars in our field down to  mag below the MS turnoff ( completeness level) have been measured, allowing a clear definition of all the CMD sequences.

Using the HB brightness, an improved distance determination has been obtained by comparison with NGC 6362 as a reference cluster.

A direct comparison with homogeneous V, I CMDs for 47 Tuc and M5 shows that Pal 12 is a young cluster. The computation of a precise relative age depends on the theoretical isochrones used, although differences of at most are found among the three models considered (B94, V98 and S97). The comparison with the models shows that Pal 12 age is that of the reference clusters.

Finally, our large field also allowed to obtain a radially complete number density profile for stars brighter than , and to compute improved structural parameters. The new morphological parameters are and .

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 1998

Online publication: September 30, 1998
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