English

Structural Parameters of the Globular Cluster M 15

Astrophysics of Galaxies 2026-03-16 v1

Abstract

We present a detailed analysis of the structural parameters of the globular cluster M 15 using g- and i-band photometric data from Pan-STARRS1 DR2. The central coordinates (XC,YCX_{\rm{C}}, Y_{\rm{C}}), ellipticity (ϵ\epsilon), and position angle (PA) are derived via two independent methods: ellipse fitting of the two-dimensional stellar number isodensity distribution and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) sampling. Our analysis of 38 stellar density intervals reveals a cluster center offset by only 4. ⁣ ⁣1±9. ⁣ ⁣64\,.\!\!^{\prime\prime}1\pm9\,.\!\!^{\prime\prime}6 from the commonly accepted in the literature value, a good agreement on the order of our map resolution. We find a radial variation in the ellipticity, with a mean value of ϵ=0.09±0.02\epsilon=0.09\pm0.02 for the inner region (R4. ⁣ ⁣5R\leq4\,.\!\!^{\prime}5) and ϵ=0.04±0.02\epsilon=0.04\pm0.02 for the outer region (R>4. ⁣ ⁣5R>4\,.\!\!^{\prime}5), where the errors correspond to 1σ1\sigma. The MCMC analysis of 75 datasets yields a mean ϵ=0.022±0.005\epsilon=0.022\pm0.005 for the entire cluster. The PA remains constant with increasing distance from the cluster center, PA=44. ⁣ ⁣4±16. ⁣ ⁣2\rm{PA}=44\,.\!\!{\rm{^\circ}}4\pm16\,.\!\!{\rm{^\circ}}2, and the MCMC method providing a consistent value of PA=46. ⁣ ⁣6±7. ⁣ ⁣1\rm{PA}=46\,.\!\!{\rm{^\circ}}6\pm7\,.\!\!{\rm{^\circ}}1. Our results are in agreement with some recent studies but challenge others, suggesting that a single ϵ\epsilon value may be insufficient to fully characterize the overall oblateness of M 15 due to incompleteness and crowding effects in its core.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2603.13140,
  title  = {Structural Parameters of the Globular Cluster M 15},
  author = {M. V. Petkova and G. P. Petrov and N. M. Kacharov and P. L. Nedialkov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.13140},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T11:18:42.545Z