Another Nonsegregated Blue Straggler Population in a Globular Cluster: the Case of NGC 2419

Abstract

We have used a combination of ACS HST high-resolution and wide-field Subaru data in order to study the blue straggler star (BSS) population over the entire extension of the remote Galactic globular cluster NGC 2419. The BSS population presented here is among the largest ever observed in any stellar system, with more than 230 BSSs in the brightest portion of the sequence. The radial distribution of the selected BSSs is essentially the same as that of the other cluster stars. In this sense the BSS radial distribution is similar to that of ω Centauri and unlike that of all Galactic globular clusters studied to date, which have highly centrally segregated distributions and, in most cases, a pronounced upturn in the external regions. As in the case of ω Centauri, this evidence indicates that NGC 2419 is not yet relaxed even in the central regions. This observational fact is in agreement with estimated half-mass relaxation time, which is of the order of the cluster age.

Based on observations with the NASA/ESA HST, obtained at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which is operated by AURA, Inc., under NASA contract NAS5-26555. Also based on Subaru observations collected at the Hawaii National Astronomical Observatory of Japan.