Wide field CCD photometry of the globular cluster M92

Abstract

We present wide field CCD photometry of a galactic globular cluster M92 obtained in the V and I bands with the CFH12K mosaic CCD at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. A well-defined color-magnitude diagram is derived down to 5 magnitudes fainter than the cluster main sequence turn-off. After removing the background contribution, we obtain luminosity and mass functions, surface density profiles, and the surface number density maps of the stars belonging to the cluster. The surface density profile of all stars shows that the cluster's halo extends at least out to ~30' from the cluster center in agreement with previous study, but the profile of faint stars at the very outer region of the cluster shows a different gradient compared with that of bright stars. For a mass function of the cluster, we find that the inner region of the cluster has x = 1.2+-0.2, whereas the outer region has x = 1.8 +-0.3, clearly indicating a mass segregation of the cluster. An estimate of the photometric mass of the cluster implies that the remnant populations (white dwarfs and neutron stars) contribute at least 25% of the total cluster mass. The surface density map of M92 shows some evidence that the tidal tail of M92 may be oriented perpendicular to the direction toward the Galactic center.