One successful way of finding intracluster stars is through observations of intracluster planetary nebulae (IPN). For the past two years we have been surveying the Virgo cluster for IPN using [O III] $\lambda$ 5007 imaging. From our results to date, we have found that the intracluster starlight of Virgo is 1) large (at least 22% of the total starlight), 2) varies between subclumps A (near M87) and B (near M49) of the Virgo cluster, 3) is elongated along our line-of-sight, and 4) may be of moderate age and metallicity.
We now present results from additional observations, and
detail our search for filamentary structures of IPN, which
are predicted in the "galaxy harassment" models of Moore et
al. (1996). We also compare our IPN results to the detection
of intracluster red giants in Virgo by Ferguson, Tanvir &
von Hippel (1998). In the near future, we plan to use two
powerful new observational tools for further study of
Virgo's intracluster stars: the NOAO CCD Mosaic, which will
greatly increase the area we can survey, and the
Hobby-Eberly Telescope, which will obtain velocities of the
IPN.
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Other Relevant Links:
Planetary Nebulae as Tracers of Intergalactic Stars
Our Publications on Intracluster Stars
| Last Modified: January 29 1999
Web Page by John Feldmeier johnf@eor.astr.cwru.edu Department of Astronomy Case Western Reserve University |
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